A Whole New Set of Emotions
by MagicFireTiger
Summary: Riley can't believe she's actually moving back to Minnesota—but she is. Things couldn't be better. But then a memory pops up that brings back a deep, hopeless longing. Or is it? And then she's even happier than before, but something gets in the way. Bad things happen, and now all everyone wants is for her to be okay. Meanwhile, Riley finds out something incredible about her mind...
1. Chapter 1: Meg's Surprise

**A/N: Lights, camera, action! Wait, this is a book. Not a movie. A book based off of an animated movie, with action** _ **drawn**_ **, not exactly . . . acted out. :P Anyways, thank you so much for checking out this story! I literally saw "Inside Out" yesterday, thought "Hey, maybe I could write a fanfiction on this!" and wrote this first chapter last night. Now, as I just have a general idea on where this story is going, I'm not quite sure how often the updates will be, or how long it will be before I finish this story. But you can be sure on one thing: I will NOT give up this story. I'm actually sort of basing it off of a problem I've found in my own life that I've sort of overcome. . . but still wish it wasn't there. By the way, if you can, please make sure to review and tell me what you think! :) Should I change anything? Does the story not make sense? Do I have any grammatical errors? Thanks, guys! :) (And a favorites and follows are much appreciated, too.)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything from "Inside Out," only any OCs and the actual plot of this story.**

 **~MagicFireTiger**

* * *

Chapter One

Meg's Surprise

Riley Anderson sighed with relief as she stared out of the car window. The scenery flashed past her in a confusing blur—the farther away the trees, lampposts, and buildings were, the slower she seemed to pass them—but when they came right next to her, it was a split second before a bush replaced a passing tree. She was going home, at last—away from San Francisco, and back to Minnesota—back to her best friend, Megan (Meg, for short) Harper—back to her old neighborhood, her old home, her old room—since her parents had had their old house for rent, and the family previously renting from them in it had left already—and her old hockey team. Sometimes, she thought, old wasn't the best thing, but right now, when old was the only thing familiar to her, she was happy with it. Because she was going to a place that was old to her—home.

And Riley was so close to it. She could remember entering the airplanes that would take her eastward, stepping off them into the breeze and sunlight, an overcast morning, or once, the pouring rain, like it had been mere seconds ago. She closed her eyes and seemed to take one last look at her house back in San Francisco once more with a sense of giddy anticipation. She hadn't exactly had the time of her life back there—the feelings of humiliation, longing, and recklessness that had led her to nearly running away back to Minnesota had been hard to deal with. It had seemed like, during that small stretch of time, she hadn't felt any joy at all.

But that didn't matter now, because Riley was going back home.

She was itching to play some hockey again—she hadn't done it for ages, not since that horrific evening at the tryouts in San Francisco. It felt like it had been years and years. And she wouldn't be able to get back onto the rink for another few days. . . . First of all, there was all that unpacking to do (the moving truck had been sent back home from Texas the day the Andersons had decided they were moving back to Minnesota). Then, of course, was the fact that practice wasn't even scheduled until Monday, and today was Friday.

But that would not let Riley down. She would be patient . . . at least, she would try.

Riley sighed again and opened her bright blue eyes. She almost jumped in shock at the sight in front of her—because right now, her family was turning down the street back to their house.

Leaves sprinkled the sidewalk along the row of houses her family lived on. Across the street from her home was a park, with a lake nearby it— _the_ lake, the one Riley had skated on with her parents every winter since she was old enough to walk. And then she saw it. Her house, with its one floor, yellow walls, roses seeming to flow out of the flowerbeds by the windows like lava—just like she had left it just weeks ago. It was small (though of course, her family wasn't exactly that big), but it was perfect.

"Aaaand . . . here we are!" said Mr. Anderson. Riley could tell that he was smiling from the way he said it, even if she could not see it, because though there was a mirror that reflected her father's face back at her from the front seat, she was too busy staring at the door slamming open from the house on the exact right of her own.

Riley's best friend in the entire world, Meg Harper, had run out of it, wild, curly red hair, glasses and all. Without even waiting for the car to come to a complete stop, she unbuckled herself and leapt out of it, running right towards her friend.

"MEG! MEG! MEG!" she shouted out to her.

"RILEY! RILEY! RILEY!" Meg sprinted with equal speed and enthusiasm right towards Riley, waving her arms about like crazy, and they met right on the grass separating their houses from each other.

They gripped each other in a hug that took the breath out of both of them, and then pulled apart, beaming broadly. The two best friends were back together at last—Riley, short blond hair shining in the sunlight, light blue eyes twinkling, and Meg, curly red hair up in a ponytail at the top of her head, light blue eyes wide with excitement.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in _forever_!" Meg giggled.

"I know!" Riley breathed.

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, and then Meg grabbed Riley's hand and started pulling her into her house.

"Come on, come on, come on, Riley!" she exclaimed. "I wanna show you something!"

"Okay!" Riley let herself be pulled along inside the house, into the small hallway, filled with shoes, toys, and the occasional pair of underpants. Meg had a lot of younger siblings—four, in all, except, maybe—

"And . . . here!" Meg exclaimed finally in an excited whisper, and she waved her hand in a dramatic effect, showing Riley the room she had led her to. It was a familiar one—Meg's parents' room, as a matter of fact—and inside it was a sight that made Riley's eyes go wide in astonishment.

* * *

Unknown to Riley, inside her head, her emotions were very busy making sure that she was happy, sad, un-poisoned, safe, and being treated fairly all at the same time.

There was Joy, the life of the party—blue hair pulled into a bun at the top of her head, bright, glowing yellow skin, small green dress, and enormous blue eyes. Then there was Sadness, who was to say, in every which way, blue—her turtle-neck shirt, pants, square body, skin, hair, eyes—you name it. There was also Disgust, who was, similarly to Sadness, one single color—but green. She had very long eyelashes, short green hair, green skin, and a very thin body. There was Fear, who had a very oddly shaped body—he wore a suit, was very purple, had one single strand of hair, and somewhat resembled a noodle with limbs. And then there was Anger—and short, stout emotion, colored red, who had the ability to make flames on the top of his head.

For the past several minutes, they had all been feeling very excited (with Riley) at the prospect of her going back home—at least, in their own ways. And now, upon seeing the thing that made Riley stop in her tracks so abruptly, they all had their own reactions.

"He's so _adorable_!" gasped Joy.

"Awe. . . ." Sadness's face softened and she gave a small smile.

"It's . . . _cute_ ," said Disgust, looking up from examining her hands.

"It's—what is it—can it hurt us?—Oh, wait, no, I don't think it can—" stammered Fear, "never mind."

"Another one?" said Anger, brows furrowing suspiciously. "Doesn't this girl's family have enough?"

. . . .Through Riley's eyes, they were all staring at a little baby held in Meg's mother's arms. Bundled in a small blanket, the baby boy was sucking on the bottle held by his mother.

* * *

"See? See? See?" Meg said in excited whispers, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"I . . . wow, Meg. Your mom had the baby!" was all Riley could say.

"I know, right? It was just last week, I wanted to tell you, but, you know. . . ." Meg's voice trailed off. Riley was certain she was remembering, as well as she was, the night when she had shoved her away while video chatting. They had made up since, talking on the phone and video chatting again, but that moment was still a bit awkward to remember.

* * *

Fear had jumped back after Riley made that last comment, because he had forgotten that Meg's mother had been expecting a baby for a while now, and then spun around in agitation, accidentally grabbed a green memory, before placing it in the memory ball beam.

The others turned around.

"Fear!" exclaimed Joy.

"Sorry, you know how that stuff happens!" Fear apologized fretfully.

"Well, now we've gotta get a better memory," said Joy. "Let's see. . . ."

"How about this?" Sadness walked over to the shelf of memories behind them and picked out a blue one.

Too preoccupied deciding what memory to use, Joy hadn't noticed what Sadness was doing until the screen before them had become blue.

"Wha—wait, Sadness!"

* * *

It was right at that moment that Meg's mother noticed that the two girls were at the doorway to the room.

She smiled. "Hello, girls. It's good to see you again, Riley! Come and meet our new addition to the family, little baby Ethan."

As she and Meg walked into the room, a fresh wave of memories swept over Riley. She felt a pang in the pit of her stomach as she thought back to nearly five years before, when something she wished had never happened, did.

Her mother and father had sat her down at the dining table to tell her something. She had felt both scared and excited at that time. Were they going to go on a vacation? No, her parents' faces were too serious for that. But they had looked excited and nervous, too. Had they won the lottery? Wait, no, her parents didn't do the lottery. What had happened, then, seven-year-old Riley had wondered, to make them look like they did?

They had then both exchanged looks before giving her the news that in several months, she would be a big sister to a new baby sister or brother. They had also told her that it would be best not to tell anyone until several months later, not because it would be dangerous or anything, but because if anything happened, like a miscarriage, then they would have to tell too many people that they weren't having the baby. Riley had asked what a miscarriage was, and they explained to her.

So the next weeks had gone by as usual, Riley taking care not to tell anyone (though she wished so hard she could tell Meg, because _she_ had always told _Riley_ whenever she was having a new baby brother or sister). And then one day, her mother said she needed to go to the doctor, and Riley had started to worry. Then her mother came home and said that the baby wasn't going to make it.

And then, Riley had cuddled up with her mother on the sofa and they had cried together. She hadn't even seen the baby, and yet she was feeling very sad. Maybe that was part of the reason why she was feeling so sad. She hoped she (because even though it had been too early to tell, in her heart of hearts had known that it was a girl) was happy in heaven now.

"Okay . . . gotta replace it with something happy . . . something happy . . ." Joy muttered to herself, and then turned around and deftly grabbed a yellow ball of memory, took out the blue one from the beam, and replaced it with the yellow before running up to the keyboard and pressing several buttons.

Instantly, on the screen in yellow light showed the time when Riley had first held Meg's first baby brother, many, many years ago, and Joy felt satisfied with her work.

Riley hadn't realized that she had started tearing up a bit until she stopped. Thinking back to that time when she had first held baby Ethan's oldest brother in her arms comforted her, and she smiled down at the now watchful baby.

"Do you wanna hold him?" Meg asked excitedly.

Riley nodded. "Yeah!" She was glad her voice didn't have that edge to it she tended to get whenever she was on the verge of tears.

Meg's mother held out the baby, who had the same brown eyes as his mother, and Riley took him gently into her arms. She smiled again and rocked him gently, knowing that all she needed for a baby sibling of her own was right here. . . . Though in her heart of hearts, she knew that she would never, ever give up her longing for a baby brother or sister of her own.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, guys! :) By the way, if you're interested in "Frozen" and/or "Tangled" fanfiction, feel free to check out my first fanfiction series (still in progress, on the second book), called "The Cousins." The first book is called** **Ice Meets Fire** **, and the second one, which I am in the middle of writing right now, is called** **The Wolf** **. Thanks, guys! :)**


	2. Chapter 2: The Press of a Button

**A/N: First of all, thank you. Thank you SO MUCH to all of those who reviewed, "favorited," and followed my story! Here's a thank-you to AquaRoses, Generalhyna, KinsleyAbigail, ProCrafterZ, Toa Aerrow, cryptologicalMystic, demitruli, and ttcroc1 for favoriting! Here's another thank-you to Generalhyna, KinsleyAbigail, ProCrafterZ, Toa Aerrow, cryptologicalMystic, and demitruli for following! And a final thank-you to demetruli, cryptologicalMystic, and ProCrafterZ for revewing! Thank you SO MUCH, YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! :D (P.S. Sorry if I got your names a little off. Silly me.) Please let me know what you think of this chapter! :) Also, I'm not sure when I'll be able to post next, but you can be sure I will eventually! :P**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing from "Inside Out."**

* * *

Chapter Two

The Press of a Button

"Riley!"

Riley turned around as she faintly heard her mother call her name.

"I'd better go," she said. "'Bye, Meg. By, Mrs. Harper."

"Goodbye." Meg's mother smiled.

"I'll come with you!" Meg offered enthusiastically, and Riley followed her out of the room. They were in the hallway when they met two little girls standing in front of them.

"Hi, Riley!" they said at the same time, their bright blue eyes, so like their older sister's, sparkling with anticipation. They both had very curly hair like her, too, except it was black, like their mother's.

Riley smiled. "Hi, Peyton. Hi, Emmie."

"What's it like in Minnesota?" the girls, Meg's six-year-old twin sisters, asked.

Riley bent down to their eyelevel. "Nothing like home," she said simply.

Their eyes widened. "What was your house like?" asked the one on the right.

Riley sighed. "Well, Emmie, it was really tall and thin."

"Ooh! Like a giraffe!" exclaimed Peyton excitedly. Riley had memorized who was who by certain birthmarks they had—Emmie had one that almost looked like a heart on the right side of her neck, while Peyton had one right next to her left eyebrow that looked like a shield.

Riley chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so."

She heard her mother calling her name again and gave a fake sigh. "Well, I'd better get going," she said dramatically to the twins. "My mom is expecting me."

Peyton and Emmie giggled. "Okay! Come back soon, okay?"

Riley nodded vigorously. "You can count on it."

While the twins scampered off down the hall, Riley and Meg turned around and stepped out the door. They exchanged mischievous looks, grinning, before saying at the exact same time, "Race you!", and running across the grass back to Riley's driveway.

"Well, hello, Meg," said Mr. Anderson, smiling as the red-head stopped right in front of him. He was holding a large cardboard box, and Riley, coming up a split-second behind Meg, saw that the moving trucks had arrived.

"Hi, Pa!" Meg exclaimed. She had adopted this nickname for Riley's father, since their families were really very close and had been since Meg's had moved into the neighborhood when she and Riley were one.

Mrs. Anderson came out of the house, brown hair back in a ponytail, just at that moment. "Hi, Meg! How's your mother doing?"

"She had the baby!" Meg shouted out crazily.

Mr. Anderson nearly dropped his box. "What?! When? Why didn't you guys tell us?" he asked in surprise.

"We wanted to surprise you!" replied Meg, shrugging her shoulders and beaming.

Mrs. Anderson leaned over and ruffled the hair on top of her head. "Oh, you Harpers." Then she continued towards the moving vans parked on the street. "Come on and help bring some things in, guys. And then I want to say hello to the new baby."

Riley and Meg nodded enthusiastically before running after Riley's mother, smiling and really happy they were back together again.

* * *

Riley's emotions watched through her eyes as she stepped in front of a moving truck, where a strong-looking man was pulling out a box.

"Stranger danger! Stranger danger! Stranger danger!" yelled out Fear, pushing some buttons on the board in front of him.

Riley stepped back and looked up at the man, suddenly uncertain. Meg's voice said, "Hi, mister! Any boxes for us?"

The man smiled, and it seemed friendly enough.

"He's not so bad," said Joy, and pressed some other buttons. "He's probably a moving truck guy."

Fear sighed. "Maybe, but he's a stranger!"

Disgust rolled her eyes. "With an _awful_ taste in style." With another twiddling of buttons, Riley's eyes narrowed.

"Come on, guys, let's help with the boxes!" Joy said enthusiastically. "It'll be fun!"

"Fine," the others said together.

* * *

"Sure," said the man in reply to Meg's question. He handed her and Riley each a large cardboard box, and together, they started back up the driveway to the open front door, their boxes banging against their legs and arms.

As Riley stepped inside her old house for the first time in a long, long time, she felt herself let out a sigh of relief. She was back home—she was back _home_! The white tiled floor that her mother hated so much but never got around to replacing, the white walls bare of their usual adornment of photographs and paintings, the carpet that reminded her of sand in the living room, the swinging doorway to the kitchen and dining room combined, the opening in the wall leading off to the hallway that held two bathrooms and three bedrooms: Mr. and Mrs. Anderson's bedroom, a guest room, and Riley's room.

Riley set her box down before entering the hall. Suddenly, she stopped. She was right in front of her room; the white door was shut. A mixture of excitement and nervousness was filling her, making her hesitate before entering it. But then, she realized, of course she would have to go inside. This was _her_ room—and she was going back inside it.

She suddenly remembered that dreadful day, the day she and her parents had left her home for what she thought was to be forever. Riley had barely been able to stop herself from resolutely staying put inside it, but she had known that was impossible. The last look at her room, the last look at the yellow walls of the outside of the house, the roses red and friendly, the trees in the park on the other side of the street seeming to wave goodbye. . . . Riley had felt, to her surprise, tears sliding down her face, and even now, as she opened the door, she felt them again. But this time they were good, because she was so happy that she was finally home again.

The room was silent and dusty. The walls were still painted her favorite color, yellow. The floor was soft, the carpet again reminding her of the beach. That was one thing Riley was going to miss about San Francisco—the chance to visit the beach. But she always had her grandparents' house to visit in Florida every so often.

And then there was the window, facing Meg's house, and Meg's bedroom. She could barely see it through the fence separating the two houses. Riley and Meg used to use tin can telephones to talk with each other late at night.

"So! Wanna go get some more stuff, Riley?"

Riley jumped and turned around. She hadn't realized that Meg herself had followed her into the room. Riley nodded.

"Sure," she said, and followed as Meg led the way out of the house and back to the moving trucks.

* * *

That evening, it was almost like the move had never happened. All the furniture was back in place (at least, most of it), Riley's bedroom had been filled again (though she hadn't quite been able to find her hairbrush—meh, she would look later). She had unpacked everything and set it back in its proper place—her laptop on her desk, bed in one corner with its design of white-and-yellow flowers on the bed comforter covered with Riley's stuffed animals, her clothes all in the closet—everything looked like it was before she had left.

However, as her parents hadn't had the time to go shopping lately, the Anderson family had had to go out to eat. But unlike in San Francisco, where even the pizza was not appealing at all (and Riley absolutely loved pizza), they had familiar places to go to, familiar restaurants to choose from. So they decided to go to their favorite pizza parlor, where broccoli pizza was laughed at (though after visiting Meg's house and the new baby, which brought about that feeling of longing again).

It was very fun at the pizza parlor, maybe more so than before, Riley thought, as she munched on her favorite pepperoni pizza. She had felt a pang of longing as she looked at the highchairs in one corner, but quickly forgot it. She was back home, she was happy, and nothing was going to change that.

* * *

"But it isn't _fair_ for Riley!" exclaimed Anger. He and Disgust had been arguing over Riley's wish.

"Well, sometimes life isn't fair!" countered Disgust.

"But look at Meg!" said Anger. "Look at her! Her mother practically won the genetic lottery, I mean, look at all those kids she's got!"

Disgust rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but look at all that work that has to be done! Sometimes Meg doesn't even finish her homework because she's got to help her mom!" Then she stopped, and her expression turned thoughtful for a moment. "Though, that would be a good way to get out of school. . . ."

"See! It isn't _fair_!" shouted Anger, and that ended the conversation.

"Hi, Anger, Disgust," said Sadness in an attempt to cheer up her friends, walking over to them, "remember that time when Riley's mom told her she wasn't going to have the baby anymore?"

Anger glared at her and Disgust gave her a look of contempt.

"Hey, guys . . ." said Joy, walking over to them. "Guys, guys, guys," she continued, giggling uncertainly, "Come on, Riley just got back to Minnesota! She can play hockey again with Meg! She ought to be happy! Come on!" She attempted to gather them up into a group hug, but Anger pushed her away and stomped towards the board full of buttons.

"No. This isn't fair for Riley. She needs to tell someone." He began pressing a bunch of buttons.

Joy let her face fall into her hands.

"Uh . . . are you sure this is a good idea?" Fear asked uncertainly, looking over at what Anger was doing.

"She's gotta do something about it," Anger said stoutly.

"Well, yeah, but not right now at dinner!" said Joy, coming over to them.

"Too late."

* * *

Suddenly, Riley felt another pang in her stomach. She sighed and set down the piece of pizza she was about to eat.

Her parents looked up from their own slices and looked at her worriedly.

"What's up?" her mother asked.

"Nothing. . . ." Riley shook her head and picked up the pizza again.

"Are you sure?" her father said.

Riley nodded. Her mouth was full of pizza.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson exchanged looks with raised eyebrows before turning back to their own.

And then, Riley felt a sudden urge to tell her parents what was on her mind.

"It's just. . . ." She gulped. She could feel tears starting to fill her eyes. She shut them in an attempt to stop it. Her throat felt tight.

"What, Riley?" Mrs. Anderson started stroking Riley's short blond hair.

Riley took a shuddering breath. "Well . . . what with Meg's new baby brother and—and all. . . ." It was difficult to not cry right now. "I—it's just. . . ."

"What, sweetie?" said her father.

Riley shook her head again. She couldn't talk, because she knew that if she would, she would start to cry, and she was in a restaurant; this was not at home, and if she was going to tell her parents this at all, and she was going to break down in tears, she was going to do it at home.

"Later," she managed to choke out.

"Okay," said Mr. Anderson. "But if you want to talk to us, we're always going to be there for you, okay?"

Riley nodded.

"Are you guys ready to go home?" Mrs. Anderson asked after a moment of silence.

"Sure, I'm stuffed," said Riley's father in attempt to bring a cheerful mood to the table. It didn't work very well.

"What about you, Riley?" her mother said gently.

Riley nodded.

After Mr. Anderson had payed, they put their leftovers into a large box and left. Riley sat in the car, and suddenly, she started feeling as though she couldn't quite breathe properly. She didn't have asthma or anything like that; she knew that much. But in the past, when she was upset or agitated or nervous, it had become a little difficult to breathe. And worrying about it made it worse.

She took a shuddering breath and tried to quench the tears now threatening to rain down her face.

* * *

"Awe, now look what you did!" Anger shouted . . . angrily to Sadness. She had just pressed some buttons on the board, which resulted in Riley's tears and refusal to reveal what was wrong to her parents.

"I'm sorry! But you know, she'll still tell her parents!" Sadness said nervously.

"But not right now! She needs to tell her parents _right now_!" exclaimed Anger.

"Why don't we give her a happy memory to make Riley feel better?" Joy suggested.

"Fine." Anger crossed his arms.

Joy then took one of the yellow memory orbs and was about to place it in the memory beam when Fear exclaimed,

"Wait! Maybe this'll help, we haven't tried this yet! Plus, we've all agreed it won't hurt Riley, right?"

And then he pressed the button labeled "puberty."


	3. Chapter 3: Puberty

**A/N: Sorry about the slight delay. Life got crazy. Anyways, here's a HUGE thank you to CandySandy13, foreverandmore, Aspie, MagicIceDolphin, and lokiAU10 for favoriting! And another to CandySandy13, foreverandmore, MagicIceDolphin, Krypie, Jacob Voronkov, and lokiAU10 for following! And finally, a thank you to authorgoose, SapStar (guest), foreverandmore, demitruli, MagicIceDolphin, and Pro-CrafterZ for reviewing! Thanks so much, you guys! Let me know if I missed out on any of you or misspelled any names. :D Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: It's obvious what I own, now, isn't it?**

* * *

Chapter Three

Puberty

"Wait!" said Joy. "Uh . . . I thought we'd agreed to decide _together_ when we were gonna push it. . . ."

"Yeah," agreed Disgust. "And why _you_ , Fear, of all people?"

"Oh—oh no—is this bad?" said Fear tentatively.

"We'll just have to find _that_ out for _ourselves_!" Anger exclaimed sarcastically.

"Well—well, let's see what it does," suggested Sadness.

They all stopped talking and stood frozen, looking around everywhere. After about ten seconds of this, Fear said in a whisper, "Nothing's happened."

"Shh," shushed Joy.

"Do you think something happened when we were talking just now?" Sadness asked anxiously.

"Maybe . . ." muttered Joy.

"Let's go check out if the controls are any different," suggested Anger.

Joy nodded slightly. "Okay." But she didn't move after that.

"Uh . . . Joy?" said Disgust. "I'm gonna go see what's up with Riley now, okay? Okaaaaaay . . . ?"

"You do that," replied Joy. She wandered over to the folder wall and pulled out of them.

Disgust exchanged looks with the other emotions.

"What's up with her?" said Anger, raising his eyebrows.

"No idea." Disgust shook her head. "Let's figure out this mystery button." She and the others (not counting Joy, who was currently rifling through her folder of choice) went to the board. Disgust then pressed a few buttons after Riley's mother asked her a question on the screen. "Hmm. . . ."

* * *

"Hey, look, Riley, there's that new clothing store Meg told you about," said Mrs. Anderson. On the word "Meg," Riley looked up.

"Yeah?" she said quietly.

"If you want to, we can go take a look there tomorrow," her mother continued. "As a break from all that unpacking, you know. Maybe just a little Mother-Daughter date, you know? Get something nice to eat."

Riley considered this. It _would_ be nice to do that . . . but then, she realized she needed some alone time with _out_ her mom. And then the thought of what might happen if someone she knew found her shopping with her _mother_ made her want to do it even less.

"No," was all she said in reply, in a slightly haughty voice.

"Oh . . . all right, then."

After this, the car was silent for the rest of the ride home.

* * *

"What did you do to Riley?" asked Fear.

"She'd look stupid in that store with her mom," replied Disgust, as though it were obvious.

"But—wouldn't she have to go with somebody?" said Sadness.

"No. She's capable of doing things by herself now. She's almost twelve, you know," said Disgust in the same tone of voice as before.

"But what does the poo-bur-ty button do?" said Anger impatiently.

Disgust shrugged. "No idea. It didn't change anything."

"A-HA!"

They all jumped in surprise and turned around to see Joy with an open folder in her arms.

"What?!" they all exclaimed at once (except Sadness didn't exclaim—it was more of a soft "what").

"'The _puberty_ button'," Joy read out from the folder, as the others came scurrying around her, "'is to be pressed at the age of twelve—'"

"Oh no! She's not twelve yet!" interrupted Fear . . . fearfully.

"Shush. 'And when pressed, the person's emotions become enhanced and sometimes slightly uncontrollable. This stage of life ends at the age of eighteen, when the person is an adult, and during the six years of puberty, the person will go through physical changes and have many 'mood swings.' The pressing of this button cannot be reversed,'" Joy finished.

She looked up at everyone else. "So . . . I guess that's what puberty is, then."

"So were Riley's emotions supposed to be 'enhanced' when I made her feel disgusted just now?" asked Disgust.

"Yup," replied Joy.

"If I make her afraid of something, will she be more afraid than before?" said Fear tentatively.

"U-huh," said Joy.

"When I make her angry at something, she'll feel ten times angrier than I wanted her to?" questioned Anger.

"Yes."

"And if she feels sad about something, that button will make her really sad?" said Sadness worriedly.

"That's right," said Joy. "And if she feels _happy_ , she'll feel happier than usual . . . wait, there's a footnote." She bent down closer to examine the folder. "'Joy will often be quickly replaced by a different emotion during large mood swings.' Huh." She looked confused. "I wonder why?"

"Maybe Riley's not supposed to be happy during poo-ber-ty," said Disgust.

" _Pu_ berty," corrected Joy.

"Whatever."

"But what are we gonna do?!" exclaimed Fear. "We should have thought this through—this was a bad idea—a bad, very bad idea—"

"Can we say the bad word?" asked Anger.

"No! Guys, calm down!" Joy put her arms out. They all became rather quiet. "Listen to me! Let's just stay calm! This was supposed to happen at some point—"

"When Riley is _twelve_ ," interrupted Disgust.

"Which is very, very soon!" exclaimed Joy. "So let's just go about our normal business and see how this button affects everything! Just calm down! This is just a stage! We'll all get over it!"

Everyone looked at her, considering.

Anger shrugged. "All right."

Disgust rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"Well, okay, I guess," said Sadness.

"But—" started Fear.

"No buts," said Joy.

There was silence for a moment. Then, from the big screen in front of them came the noise of a doors slamming open.

"We're home!" exclaimed Joy.

* * *

Riley sighed as she got out of the car. Suddenly, she didn't feel like talking to her parents any more. She followed them into the dark house, leaving the star-filled night behind her. Somebody turned the lights on, though she wasn't paying attention to whom, and she stepped down the familiar hallway towards her bedroom.

It was dark in there. She turned on the light and looked around. Somehow, this room looked different than before. Maybe it was the light coming from the fan in the ceiling instead of the window, but it was different than she had seen it earlier today. Maybe it was the fact that she had been so happy then, and now she wasn't.

Riley changed into her pajamas, brushed her teeth, and slipped into bed. Her mother had made it earlier for her.

Her mother. . . .

Riley wondered, had she, perhaps, been given a different mom, maybe she would have another sibling. Maybe even many other siblings, like Meg. What she would give to have something like that. . . .

Then she shook herself. No, she could not be thinking such things! What? Another mom? Her mother was the best one in the world, there was no questioning that. And to think, she had denied the possibility of hanging out with her the next day. . . .

But maybe she could still talk with her about it. Yes, Riley would do that, right now. She pulled the covers back and walked out of her room, the door squeaking open. She stepped out into the hallway and looked around the living room. Her mother was not there. Riley went out of the hallway and saw a light on in the kitchen. Her parents must be in there.

Knowing she probably shouldn't be out this late, Riley was silent as she went on tiptoe towards a wall where she could see her parents, but they, not her. She poked her head out from her hiding spot and saw them sitting at the kitchen table. They were talking together in low voices.

Just as Riley was about to turn around the corner, her mother started talking.

"Well, then, how are we going to tell Riley? She's had enough trouble moving to San Francisco. . . ."

Riley's heart skipped a beat. Maybe . . . maybe . . . it could be possible that they were talking about the one thing that would lighten up her day. . . .

"Lea, it's a possibility, but I'm not saying this is our only option. There are other job opportunities around here that I'm sure I can look into," said her father's voice.

Riley's heart now sank to the pit of her stomach. No, they were not talking about . . . about a baby. . . .

"You'll just have to find something else, then." Riley heard her mother sigh. "If only you hadn't been fired. . . ."

". . . .We wouldn't have had to move to San Francisco." Mr. Anderson sighed, too. "I know. I wish there were more job opportunities around. . . ."

"Then things would be much easier."

They both chuckled and sighed again.

"Let's get to bed. Think about it in the morning," said Riley's father.

They both stood up. Then Mrs. Anderson sat back down abruptly.

"What is it?" came Riley's father's voice.

"You know, Jack, if you want, I can see if I can find a job, too. I heard from a friend that there's an opening at her work. I can see if I can have an interview tomorrow."

Riley's father put a hand on her mother's shoulder. "It might be for the best."

They decided to head back to bed again. Riley, not wanting to be found, swiftly but silently scurried off back to her own room and into her bed, and found herself unable to sleep, her mind buzzing with this new revelation.

She had known the reason why her family had moved to San Francisco—her father had been offered a job there, after having lost his original one as a computer programmer. And then, because of their move back to Minnesota, he had given up his new job. That, according to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, hadn't been a problem—they could just find him another one. But now it seemed that it was. It probably had been that for as long as possible.

And there was the threat of possibly having to move _again_. Riley didn't think she would be able to stand that. After having made the rash and reckless decision that nearly ended up with her running away back to Minnesota, she didn't think she'd be able to handle moving again. Especially when she just got back.

And her mother wouldn't be able to hang out with her tomorrow—just when Riley had really wanted to. Maybe, if she had gotten there in time. . . . In her heart of hearts, she knew that Mrs. Anderson would cancel unscheduled meetings for her daughter. But Riley stubbornly pushed that thought aside, intent upon being miserable.

She sighed and rolled over, trying to get a comfortable position in bed. Now she had one more thing to worry about . . . granted, she didn't exactly _have_ to worry about her lack of siblings, but still. She just . . . _wished_ that she would. . . .

* * *

Riley didn't know exactly when she finally drifted off to sleep. But sometime after her slip into unconsciousness, she started dreaming.

She seemed to be on her way back to her house again, and then, when Meg ran up to her, she saw something different about her: Meg's eyes were red, her face was pale, and when she smiled, she had fangs for teeth. Riley, feeling scared and wondering what would happen if she didn't do this, followed her into the house and the bedroom where her mother sat.

Riley walked inside the room, Meg smiling in a wicked way behind her. Mrs. Harper looked up. She, too, had fangs, red eyes, and seemed not to have seen daylight for years. She showed Riley the baby, and Riley screamed as she saw that his face was also distorted, giving a smile much too frightening for a little baby to have.

Riley woke up to hear someone screaming. She wondered who it was, how she could help, and would the person please just _stop_! She clamped a hand to her mouth. The noise stopped, and she realized that it was she who had been screaming.

She looked around cautiously, wondering whether anyone had heard her. She breathed a sigh of relief; no footsteps of frantic parents were to be heard outside in the hall. Riley was alone.

She wondered how long she had screamed. Maybe just seconds—otherwise, her parents were sure to have heard her and come running. Or maybe it wasn't very loud. Either way, she, for some reason, was glad she was alone. She didn't want her parents to start questioning her about what was wrong, because she really didn't want to answer that.

It was hours before she finally fell back asleep, and even then, Riley had even more dreams. But they were hazier than before, and she wasn't really sure what was in them. But she did know that her mother, Meg, and Meg's new baby brother weaved in and out of them, laughing at her, telling her it was her own fault she didn't have anyone, anyone else except for her parents. . . .

Riley couldn't help believing them; she blamed herself, she couldn't help it. She was scared and wished she could wake up, but she couldn't.

So it was a relief that, when morning came, she did not remember _those_ dreams at all.


	4. Chapter 4: A Day of Bed

**A/N: Hey, guys! First of all, there is a book mentioned in this chapter that I didn't want to give name for almost no reason. It's called The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley and a really good read. It's similar to "Inside Out," actually. I just read it recently and highly recommend it. Anyway, here's a shout-out to GreyWolfDruid, xxx sonamy lover xxx, MarcelineFan, Hubbabbuba123, Boris Yeltsin, TheTinyDiamond, TrimusicaDrag00n90, and Fun with typing for favoriting, GreyWolfDruid, Beep's B, xxx sonamy lover xxx, Hubbabbuba123, Boris Yeltsin, bigstinker03, for following, and lastly, to Yay (guest), Krypie, demitruli, Sapstar (guest), and Boris Yeltsin for reviewing. Thanks so much, guys! :D Also, I was sort of lazy with this chapter and didn't read through before I'm posting it, so sorry if there's anything crazy in here. ;)**

 **One last thing—I just started writing a new Harry Potter fanfiction, so if you're interested in that sort of thing, go ahead and check it out! (It's on my profile - way down below it). Thanks again so much, guys! :D (P.S. You know what I own).**

* * *

Chapter Four

A Day of Bed

Riley awoke the next morning to see the sun shining brightly through the blinds on her window in front of her. She yawned and looked around. And then, she remembered the first dream of the previous night and groaned. She sat up in bed and stretched, staring at the dust lit up on the blinds.

She wondered what time it was and looked around. It was ten o'clock in the morning. Riley gasped. How could she have slept in for so long? She slid out of bed, still feeling absolutely exhausted, and sat down on the carpeted floor, staring ahead of herself without really seeing anything.

Riley didn't really feel much like doing anything today. Yesterday had been such a blur, and she did not want to remember half of it. All she wanted to do was climb back into bed. . . .

Then she remembered. Her mother. Again, the thought of going to see if she could still hang out with her today came into Riley's mind, and, with a feeling of new determination, she slowly stood up, stretched a bit more, and walked out of the room.

She felt the cold tile beneath her feet as she walked through the hallway and into her parents' room, wondering if they were awake yet. It seemed they were, because their beds were unoccupied. Riley shuffled back out of the room, rubbing her eyes to wake herself more, and into the kitchen, where she promptly sat down at the table and rested her head on it.

Then she noticed the slip of paper there, right in front of her face. She unstuck her head from the wood and grabbed it, crumpling it in the process. She un-crumpled it and saw her mother's handwriting,

 _Riley,_

 _Your father and I both have meetings this morning. Dad will be back by around eleven. I'll be home about lunchtime. There's cereal in the cupboard and milk in the fridge for breakfast._

 _Love,_

 _Mom_

Riley sighed. Nope, no chance of doing anything with her mother today. She might as well eat something and then maybe go back to sleep. So she pushed her chair back and stood up, and then trudged over to the kitchen. She grabbed a bowl out of a cupboard, a spoon out of a drawer, both the milk and a box of cornflakes, and then sat back down.

It was right when Riley was starting to eat that she started to feel really bored and like she wanted to do something. For the first time ever, she wanted to read a book.

Well, maybe not the first time _ever_. Riley had used to love to read, but ever since she had gotten her phone and her laptop and everything, she had gotten distracted. The most recent book she had read was probably somewhere in a box. She hadn't read anything in months and months, which was saying something.

And what she wanted to do right now was read a book.

So, leaving her cornflakes untouched, Riley stood up from the table once more and walked back to her room. She looked at her shelves, which had the few books yet unpacked, and considered each title. She finally decided on one with an interesting title. According to the back of it, the plot was unique, so maybe that would be nice.

Riley took a bookmark with a coyote on it from her desk drawer, walked out of her room once more, back into the dining room, sat down, and began eating—and reading.

She was soon immersed in the story. It was one she had never read before. At the beginning, it was rather confusing, but Riley gradually caught onto the plot. It was, as the back had said, very unique, and well written. It was a little over two hundred pages, but they were short, and so were the chapters, and it was an overall easy read.

The story, which was about a character from a book within this book, who enters the dreams of the "reader" of the book, and tries to find a place to stay permanently and happily, was very captivating. Even once Riley was finished eating, she stayed at the table and finished the next chapter. Then, she began another, and kept reading even as she put the milk and cereal back away and her bowl into the sink. She wandered over towards the living room and sank onto to sofa, drinking the story in, not wanting to stop.

This story had a calming effect on Riley, and in the silence of the house, for at least a little while, she was happy, and she didn't have to worry about anything, because this story seemed to make any bad thoughts simply disappear.

Eventually, the silence was disrupted as the sound of the front door opening echoed throughout the house. Riley's father came into the room.

"Hey, sweetie," he said, sitting down on a chair.

"Hi," said Riley brightly, looking up from the book.

"How are you, Riley?" said Mr. Anderson, before adding playfully, "Hey, weren't you supposed to be at Meg's house? I thought you'd want to spend every minute possible together now that we're back!"

Riley shrugged. "Later, maybe."

"What's that book you're reading?"

Riley showed him.

"Oh, your mother used to love that book." Mr. Anderson smiled. "What do you think of it so far?"

"Really, really good."

Riley's father chuckled. "Good. Well, if you're so busy reading, I guess you wouldn't mind missing out on a little game time with your old dad. . . ."

Riley looked up from the book. "What?! Are you _kidding_ me? Of course I want to play!" She sat up on the couch.

Mr. Anderson laughed. "What would you like to play, then?" he asked.

Riley considered for a moment before deciding, "Chess."

"All right then. Nice and simple, chess is," said her father, smiling. He stood up and went over to their game closet, which had since been filled, and pulled out an old, battered-looking box of chess pieces and a board.

"Which color do you wanna be?" Mr. Anderson asked.

Riley thought briefly. "White."

"All right, then," said her father. He cracked his knuckles before setting up the pieces under careful observation of his daughter. Finally, they were ready.

"White goes first," said Riley, smiling mischievously. She moved a pawn forward two spaces.

"And black follows," said Mr. Anderson, doing the same with one of his pawns.

"And white takes a pawn," said Riley, looking down at the pieces with a smirk on her face.

"And the king strikes back," said her father.

They played like this for a while, until Riley shouted, "Check-mate!" and the game was won.

"Well, I think I'm going to watch a bit of baseball on T.V. Would you like to join me?" said Mr. Anderson.

Riley looked at him in horror. "A sport that's not hockey? No way, ho-zay." She stood up. "I think I'm gonna go over to Meg's house, 'kay?"

"Sure," said her father, turning on the television. "Let me know if you're having lunch there."

"Will do." Riley promptly stepped out of the room and out the door and walked less than one hundred steps to Meg's family's front door. She knocked, feeling quite cheerful. That is, until Meg's mother answered the door.

"Hi, Riley!" she said sweetly. Baby Ethan lay in her arms.

"Hi," Riley said flatly. The grin she had had on her face as she walked over there had vanished.

"Would you like to see Meg? She's in her room," said Mrs. Harper. Her expression turned to one of concern as she saw the look on Riley's face. "Riley, dear? Are you okay?"

"Fine," said Riley stiffly.

"Meg's in her room, if you want her," Mrs. Harper said again, but Riley's gaze was fixed on Ethan, who was yawning adorably.

"Riley?" said Mrs. Harper.

Riley shook her head. "Oh—um—uh—you know what—uh, actually, I, uh, wanted to get Meg's, um email," she stuttered. "I've forgotten it, and, um, I wanted to send her this picture of, um. . . ." Her voice trailed off.

"Well, sure," said Mrs. Harper. "Do you want me to go get her?"

"No!" Riley said, much more forcefully than she had meant to. "I mean—uh—it—I want it to be a surprise." She attempted to smile. She didn't do it very well.

"All right, then," said Mrs. Harper, obviously still perplexed and concerned. She wrote it down on a piece of paper and gave it to Riley. "Here."

"Thanks," said Riley, and she ran off without saying anything else.

* * *

"Th-there!" said Fear, standing up straight from the controls board. "Riley—she got out of that just fine, right, guys?"

"Yeah . . ." Joy said untruthfully. She and the others had just handed the controls over to Fear, because this, of course, was his time to help steer Riley out of dangerous waters. "Well . . . hey, Sadness, Riley's mom just pulled up! I think she needs her right now."

Sadness looked up at her. "You do?" she said uncertainly.

"Yeah." Joy nodded vigorously. "You're in charge of the controls, Sadness."

"Well, all right, then, I guess," said Sadness. She stepped up to the controls board, tapping some buttons and pulling some levers.

"You know, I just thought of something," said Disgust suddenly.

"What?" Joy and Anger and Fear asked at the same time.

"Well, why does Riley need a baby sister or brother, anyway?" continued Disgust. "I mean, all they do is eat, poop, sleep, repeat."

"Not this again . . ." muttered Joy.

" _Riley_ used to be a baby!" countered Anger.

"Well, duh," said Disgust. "But I mean, she's almost twelve, she's got better things to do than hang around, helping out mom with a baby!"

"It's her dream!" shouted Anger. "And it isn't _fair_!"

"Oi." Joy face-palmed herself.

"Here. Gimme the controls," Anger said . . . angrily, shoving Sadness out of the way and pushing some buttons.

* * *

Riley ran through the house and collapsed onto her bed, tears pouring down her face. She had not known how this could have affected her so badly. One minute, she was happy as an elephant in a mud puddle, the next, she was bawling her eyes out just because she saw her stupid friend's stupid mother and stupid baby brother.

She was angry at everyone right now. Meg's family was nearly to the breaking point with children, she was totally going to fail hockey because of this, and her parents weren't even giving her the happiness of a baby brother or sister! She just—she just. . . .

She just couldn't stand it anymore.

She didn't know what to do.

Riley didn't know how long she lay there, sobbing on her bed, but when she finally hiccupped herself into silence, she sat up. Her book was on the desk. One of her parents must have brought it in.

She got up off of her bed and lifted the book up off of the desk. And then, as a feeling of extreme anger overcame her, she tossed the book into her trashcan. It wasn't going to be any help at all any more.

Riley heard her mother's voice echo throughout the house as though she were on an entirely different planet. She tossed herself onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Then she got up and locked the door and fell onto the yellow and white flower patterned comforter and looked at the ceiling again, as though it wasn't there.

She seemed to lay there for hours, not doing anything, just a robot lying on a bed. Or maybe it was mere minutes; she wasn't sure. But Riley did know that sometime after she had fallen into her sort of stupor, music came floating through the house.

It was a familiar song, one she had heard many a time in the past. It was a song that her mother listened to whenever she was upset or stressed out or something of the like. It calmed Riley, and she slowly closed her eyes, letting the melody, one that made an image of a drop of dew gently falling from a yellow sunflower onto a patch of bare, deep, rich, wet soil, and then of a flower, this time a white lily, blooming slowly from that very spot. It was soothing, somewhat long, and oh, so _wonderful_.

The melody soon lulled Riley to sleep like a lullaby, and she smiled as she slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

"I'm sure it's nothing, Lea," came the voice of Riley's father, breaking into her dream of rain and waterfalls in a forest filled with beautiful flowers.

"I think I'll have a doctor take a look at it, anyway," said Riley's mother as Riley opened her eyes to see that it was now evening, according to the light shining from her window. "Better safe than sorry."

Mr. Anderson sighed. "All right, then."

"I've scheduled something for today, actually."

"You have?"

"Yes. Jack, don't sound surprised. You know me."

"Okay. What are we going to do for dinner?"

"You can take Riley out somewhere, or make burritos if you want. I'll get something on the way back from the doctor's."

"Fine. Hey, I love you, Lea." Riley heard the sound of gentle kissing.

"I love you too, Jack." More kissing.

Riley was uncertain as to what was going on, but somehow, a feeling inside her told her it wasn't good. She sat up in bed and looked over at the trashcan. It was empty. Her father had probably emptied it earlier. She felt a flicker of regret as she realized that book she hadn't yet finished had still been in there, and now it was gone.


	5. Chapter 5: S'mores and Schools

**A/N: Today, your suspicions will either be confirmed or denied. Anyway, here's a shout-out to Viccy Chesire, smurfsandharrypotterrock12 and Blackout785 for favoriting, Beatrice Den, Viccy Chesire, smurfsandharrypotterrock12 and Blackout785 for following, and finally, demitruli, ItsSavannahNicole, Yay (guest), a guest,** **Noooooo (guest) for reviewing. :)**

* * *

Chapter Five

S'mores and Schools

The next day was Sunday. And on Sundays, the Anderson and Harper families went to church. And then they came back home and usually spent the rest of the day either playing games and such with each other or spending alone time with their individual families. Today, since the Andersons had just gotten back and it _still_ felt like they hadn't seen Meg's family in forever, they decided to hang out in the Harpers' backyard and roast marshmallows to make s'mores in the Harpers' fire pit.

Riley had since tried to put away that nagging feeling of worry and—she even admitted this to herself—jealousy she'd gotten earlier. She tried to think of other things, including the new book she'd asked to borrow from Meg about cats living in the wild, and it worked. Well, kind of. They'd spent the afternoon reading together and listening to music, which was actually really calming to Riley.

Right now, everyone was sitting in fold-up chairs outside, laughing and talking and eating s'mores as the sun slowly set below the horizon.

"Meg, can you take me and Anthony over to the park?"

Riley looked up from her s'more as Meg's two younger brothers, Daniel and Anthony, ages ten and nine respectively, came over.

"Did you ask Mom?" replied Meg.

"No . . ." said the brothers shiftily.

"Go ask her first," said Meg, "and then we'll see."

"Fine," said Daniel, grabbing his younger brother's hand and pulling him over to where their parents were talking and laughing together.

Suddenly, Riley asked the question that had been nagging her a lot lately.

"Hey, Meg. . . ."

"Yeah?" said Meg, looking over from where she had been staring at her brothers' retreating figures.

"Well, uh . . . what's it like, having so many younger siblings?" said Riley at last.

"Well . . ." began Meg uncertainly. She laughed. "It's crazy, to tell you the truth. Awesomely crazy."

Riley sighed.

"You all right?" asked Meg slightly concernedly.

Riley shook her head to clear it. "Fine," she said, and tried to smile.

"Well, okay, then," said Meg, and a grin broke over her face. "Come on, let's go see Ethan!" She stood up from her chair and pulled Riley over, not knowing that this wasn't really going to help Riley's mood at all.

* * *

"She's so _insensitive_!" yelled out Anger, flames lighting up on his head for a moment.

"Well . . ." said Joy.

"Yeah, she kind of is," said Disgust.

"She . . ." said Joy uncertainly.

"She doesn't even understand her own friend, that's what!" exclaimed Anger.

"Maybe she should tell her?" suggested Sadness.

"But that'd be scary!" said Fear.

"Maybe . . . maybe she should," relented Joy.

"Hmmm," said Anger, stroking his chin. "Yeah, that oughta do it."

"Are you sure about this?" said Fear timidly.

"Look who's talking," said Anger as he pressed some buttons and pulled some nobs and levers on the board.

* * *

"Hey—wait—Meg, wait!" Riley had not meant for her voice to be so forceful.

Meg turned around. They had not yet reached their parents. "What?"

"I—Meg, I have to tell you something," said Riley firmly.

"Okay," said Meg lightly.

Riley led the way into the house. They arrived in Meg's bedroom and Meg sat on her bed, while Riley plopped herself down onto Meg's twisting chair in front of her desk.

"What is it?" asked Meg.

"I—well—okay, the thing is. . . ." Riley took a deep breath. "Look. Meg. . . ." She started spinning around on the chair.

"What?" said Meg gently.

"I—okay." Riley stopped spinning and took a deep breath. Suddenly, her eyes began filling with tears.

No. She was not going to cry. She took a deep breath. And then she started crying.

"Riley?" said Meg. She stood up and brought her friend over to her bed. "Riley, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"No—I just—I just—" Riley couldn't speak. But she had to let her friend know what was wrong. She'd known her forever, and felt like a sister to her.

"What?" said Meg softly.

 _Now or never_ , Riley thought to herself before taking a deep breath and saying hesitantly, "Okay—look. Meg . . . you know how a while back I told you that my mom had gotten a miscarriage?"

Meg nodded.

"Well . . . okay. It's just that—ever since then, whenever I see someone with—with a bigger family than mine—it's just—it's been hard. And seeing you with Ethan. . . ." Riley couldn't continue. She started sobbing uncontrollably.

Meg's eyes widened. "Oh, Riley . . . oh, wow . . . Riley . . . I'm really sorry if I've ever rubbed it in, you know. . . ."

Riley nodded.

"Riley. . . ." Meg enveloped her friend into an enormous hug. "Riley, I'll always be there for you. Don't worry. Have you told your parents?"

At this, Riley began crying even harder.

"I take that as a no," said Meg. "Riley, if you're feeling so down about this, talk to them. Seriously. I used to wish I didn't have so many siblings myself. . . ." She chuckled.

"You what?" said Riley, laughing a little herself.

"Then I talked with my parents. They changed my mind about things. Of course, I know I'll always get annoyed with them and all," Meg smirked, "but, you know. And Riley, since you're _technically_ my sister, all my siblings are also _technically_ yours. Just think of it that way."

Riley looked up. "Meg . . . thanks."

Meg smiled. "No problem! Now, let's go get some more s'mores! Plus, I think the park is calling!" She jumped up, a smile on her face.

Riley stood up as well, wiping away her tears. She smiled as well. "Sure thing, Meg." And she followed her friend back into the backyard.

* * *

"There we go!" said Joy happily. She backed away from the controls board and smiled up at the screen triumphantly. "Perfect plan, if I do say so myself!"

"Uh, it wasn't your plan . . ." said Fear hesitantly.

"Oh, pish posh," said Joy, waving Fear's comment aside. "Now, Riley told Meg what was up, she's all happy and stuff, and everything's great!"

"Yeah, but she still needs to tell her parents," pointed out Anger.

"Well, yeah, but that'll be easy-breezy now that she's told Meg! I mean, she's known her parents longer than she's known Meg, you know?" said Joy brightly.

Disgust rolled her eyes, but she had a small smile on her face. "Well then, let's just keep Riley happy for the rest of this evening, shall we?"

"We shall!" said Joy resolutely, and stepped forward to take the controls.

* * *

Riley and Meg walked out into the Harpers' backyard. Daniel and Anthony came running up to them.

"Mom says we can go!" said Anthony, grinning up at them. Meg noticed he was missing a tooth and held back a giggle.

"All right, then!" said Meg, taking her brothers' hands. "But we'd better be back before too long, boys. It's already getting dark."

"Sure thing, sis!" said Daniel.

"Come on, Riley," said Meg.

Riley smiled as she followed after them. Yes, indeed, Meg was _technicall_ y her sister, and therefore her siblings were _technically her_ siblings. And she was really glad she had such a friend like Meg.

A little while later, Meg, Riley, Daniel, and Anthony had all headed back to the house, and by that time it was decided that the Andersons should be heading back home. So, exhausted but happy, Riley and her parents walked back to their house. Riley pulled on her pajamas and brushed her teeth and was reading her new book on her bed when she heard a knock on her door.

"Yes?" she said.

"It's us," said the muffled voice of her mother.

"Come in," said Riley. She put her bookmark into the book and closed it and set it on her bed as her parents came into the room.

"Hey, sweetheart," said her father.

Riley's mother leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Hi . . ." Riley said uncertainly. "What's going on?"

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson sat down on her bed, one parent on either side of her, and exchanged looks before the former said, "Riley . . . there's something you need to know."

"What?" said Riley, suddenly wary as she sat up on her bed.

"Riley . . . okay, now there's no reason to freak out," started her father.

"What?" said Riley uncertainly.

"Well . . . all right, here it is." Riley's mother took a deep breath before she, Mr. Anderson adding things in here and there, told her something that made her heart sink. Apparently, Riley's mother had gone to see the doctor the previous day to get something looked at. It turned out that she was, in fact, ill, with a word Riley could not even think in her head without feeling really, really bad. And it started with a c. They then quickly told her that it could be removed, they had scheduled an appointment for the next day, and not to worry, everything would be just fine.

Riley nodded and they hugged her and left the room.

* * *

"What?!"

All of the emotions had exclaimed this at the exact same time upon learning this news.

"But—but what's going to happen?" said Fear nervously.

"I—I don't know," said Joy. "But—but we can help her—right?"

"This is bad . . . this is very, very bad . . ." said Sadness agitatedly, wringing her hands.

"Well . . . Mom and Dad said not to worry, so why should we?" said Joy in an attempt at brightness.

"It might kill her," said Anger stoutly, eyes narrowed.

Everyone gasped.

" _Anger!_ " said Joy in surprise. "Don't—don't _say_ such things!"

". . . And that isn't fair," continued Anger, as though he had not been interrupted.

"Well . . . Mom's going to have it taken out, so . . . she'll . . . be okay," said Disgust uncertainly.

Sadness walked over to the memory wall and took out a memory. She placed it in the memory beam.

"Sadness . . ." said Joy. She sighed and said, "Never mind."

Sadness had stepped up to the board and started pressing some buttons. Right now, Joy's light seemed to have gone out inside her, and she didn't seem to have the energy to stop Sadness.

* * *

Riley was scared. This was bad. Really, really, bad. And the prospect of what might happen made her really, really sad. This wasn't supposed to be happening. She was supposed to be happy, have a good life with her family, and now things weren't going how she had imagined. . . .

She didn't want to think about it. She couldn't. She needed to be numb, but she couldn't. But it might not be so bad, she really hoped it wouldn't, she really, really hoped. . . .

The next day was Riley's first day of school back in Minnesota. She had gotten to sleep quite late the previous night and really didn't feel like going, but . . . she had to. So she got up when her alarm went off, eyes bleary as she rubbed them, sat up in bed, got out of bed, went to the bathroom, got dressed, brushed her hair, all in some sort of dreary go-through-the-motions sort of thing.

When she went to the kitchen to eat breakfast (though she wasn't very hungry), she saw her parents there already. They smiled at her, and she attempted to return it, but it didn't quite work. She ate, brushed her teeth, and was ready for school.

Riley said goodbye to her parents as she met Meg outside as the bus pulled up. They both got on.

"Are you excited for hockey practice tonight?" said Meg excitedly.

Riley nodded slightly.

"Hey . . . what's up? Cat got your tongue?" Meg joked.

Riley gave a small smile. "Guess so."

Meg grinned. "Come on, this is your first day back! I'll be able to show you some of the kids I met!"

Riley was confused for a moment. She knew all of the same kids Meg knew at school. Then she remembered. They were in middle school now, in seventh grade, and this was going to be a completely different experience than before. Well, she had gone to a middle school in San Francisco, but that was different. Everything was different now. . . .

"Come on!" Meg said suddenly. They had pulled up into the driveway of the school. "Let's go!" She grabbed her backpack and stood up.

"Okay . . ." said Riley. She sighed and looked at the building. It was really quite big, and it looked like it would definitely hold lots of people. It was just as big as her elementary school, if not bigger.

She wasn't even twelve yet, and big changes had already begun in Riley's life.


	6. Chapter 6: School

**A/N: Yes, people, I am still alive! Sorry for the rather late update . . . I had a case of writer's block. Plus, I was busy with my other stories, so once again, sorry! I reward you for your tireless wait with a chapter that is a little bit longer than the previous ones! By the way, I have been homeschooled all my life, so forgive me for anything I get wrong when it comes to public school. Anyway, I would like to thank Shadowjonathan, VioletHeart3899, imnotraven16, Revelry92, and Keyblade132 for favoriting this story; Majesty Overlord, kena86, Shadowjonathan, imnotraven16, and Ravenext for following it; and finally a thanks to an unnamed but no less appreciated guest, Wahhhh (guest), Omg (guest), demitruli (not a guest), SapStar (guest), imnotraven16 (also not a guest), Snowfrost (yet another guest), another unnamed guest, aaand MagicIceDolphin! Whew! That's a lot of stuff! So thank you so much, guys, for your support on this story! Also, in reply to a certain guest's review . . . you'll have to see if that book is one in the Warriors series. There are some clues in this chapter. You'll probably be able to guess. Also, in reply to SapStar's review, I'll just update as I go. I don't think it's rude at all, by the way. Sorry to make you wait so long on this last one. . . . -_- Aaanyways, enjoy! :D**

* * *

Chapter Six

School

"Whoa!" gasped Joy, looking at the big screen in front of her, which revealed the enormous hallways of Riley's new school.

"It's huge," said Anger.

"It's drab," commented Disgust.

"It's kind of scary . . ." said Fear.

"It's gray," said Sadness, her eyes lighting up a bit.

"So this is Riley's new school!" said Joy. "I wonder how the puberty button will affect it?"

"How the school will affect the button, more like," said Anger. "These classes better not be harder than that school in San Francisco."

"Well, she's smart," said Joy. "She's never cheated on anything."

"Cheating's gross," Disgust agreed.

"Exactly. This'll be just fine! Riley's going to have a great time here!" exclaimed Joy. "Oh! Let's get to class, now, shall we? Don't want to be late!"

"Being late is bad . . ." said Fear. "And scary. . . ."

"Exactly. Which is why. . . ." Joy's words trailed off into silence, because they had all just seen something on the screen that made them all stare.

It was a boy. He had dark, wavy hair and dark, dreamy eyes. He was standing outside a locker, talking to an almost equally dreamy boy that was dark all over (look-wise; the emotions had no idea if he was dark personality-wise at all).

"Riley needs to date that guy," said Joy, her mouth gaping open. "She will not be happy otherwise."

"Dating's disgusting when it comes to almost-twelve-year-olds," objected Disgust, but her eyes didn't look away from the boy.

"Let's go talk to him!" exclaimed Joy.

"Riley has to go to class! She can't be late!" said Fear.

"It'll only take a moment," said Joy, walking up to the control board and starting to push some nobs and buttons.

"No," said Fear firmly, pushing her out of the way. "No, no, no, she can't be late for class."

"She'll be able to talk to him later, anyway," said Disgust.

"What do you say, Sadness?" asked Joy, grasping for any help she could get.

"Oh!" said Sadness, a little surprised at being talked to. "I—I don't know. Let's just get to class, I guess."

"But Sadness!" whined Joy. "He's so _hot_!"

Anger rolled his eyes. "Just get on with it, Fear."

Fear nodded and pressed some buttons, and Riley began walking to class.

* * *

Or rather, she tried to.

"Uh, Meg . . . are you sure this is the right direction?" Riley asked uncertainly.

"Sure as pie!" replied Meg. She stopped at a corner. Riley almost walked right into her. "Whoops! I think it's here. . . ."

"Couldn't we, I dunno, maybe go ask that boy back there?" Riley said uncertainly.

"No. I am intent upon finding my way to class by myself. Even though I have been at this school longer than you have . . . anyway," replied Meg firmly, and turned around and started walking again. Then she stopped again and turned around to face Riley. "Wait . . . do you _like_ him?"

"What? No! No, I don't . . ." Riley said loftily.

"A-ha! I knew it!" exclaimed Meg, grinning from ear to ear. "You like him!"

Riley put her hair behind her ear. "Well. . . ."

"You need to talk to him as soon as possible!" Meg continued enthusiastically, bouncing up and down on her feet. "You need to get his phone number! Call him! Find out his address! Find out his favorite color! Find out his _name_! Stalk him!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Riley said. "Slow down. . . ." But she grinned.

Meg stopped bouncing. "Fine. Later."

"Exactly what is 'later,' young lady?"

Riley and Meg spun around to find themselves face to face with a very tall, very intimidating, and very bald man.

"Uh . . . nothing," said Meg.

The man raised his eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Uh. . . ." Meg and Riley exchanged looks. They both realized that the hallways had emptied as they talked.

"That's what I thought," said the man. He had a booming, bossy sort of voice. "Go on now, or there will be consequences."

"Well . . . uh, sir, we don't know where class is," admitted Meg.

Riley nudged her with her elbow and gave her a look. Look who was talking now, Miss I-Totally-Know-Where-the-Classroom-is. Meg shrugged.

"Then I shall lead you," said the man. "I am the principal of this school, and I would like to tell you that any wanderings-around will have consequences. My name is Principal Wood."

"We're sorry, sir," said Riley quickly. "Could you please show us the way, then?"

The man smiled. "Why of course, young lady. Which class are you supposed to be in right now?"

"Uh . . . pre-pre-algebra, I think," said Riley.

"With Miss Beech," added Meg.

"Well then, let us go." Principal Wood then led them through the silent and empty halls of the school to a classroom on an upper floor. He opened the door to a classroom and continued, "Miss Beech, it seems you have some latecomers."

Riley and Meg peeked inside the classroom. There were lots of rows of desks with lots and lots of students at them. At the front of the classroom and in between a chalkboard and desk stood a teacher. She was very pretty, and Riley knew at once that maybe these classes weren't going to be so bad. She had short, curly brown hair and wore a simple dress.

The teacher smiled. "Come on in, then!"

Riley and Meg entered the classroom and were about to sit down when Riley realized that there was only one open seat.

"Uh . . . Miss Beech?" she said. "There's only one chair left."

Miss Beech exchanged a look with Principal Wood.

"Oh, really? Hmm. Let me check something real quick. . . ." She pulled out a clipboard with a piece of paper on it. "What are your names, girls?"

"Riley Anderson," said Riley.

"Meg Harper," added Meg.

"Riley Anderson . . . Megan Harper . . ." muttered the teacher. "Hmm." She looked up from the clipboard. "I don't think there is a Riley Anderson in our class."

Riley felt her stomach drop. "But—what?"

Miss Beech shook her head. "I'm sorry, Riley. I think you're in the class with Mr. Sharp." She sounded like she was truly sorry, but Riley didn't care. She wasn't going to be able to be with her friend at school _again_?

"Come along, now, Riley," said the principal.

"But—can't you change something? Switch me with a different student?" Riley spluttered.

"We cannot, Riley. Come along," said Principal Wood.

"But—"

"Riley, dear, you really must go. I'm sorry," said Miss Beech.

"I—okay." Riley went over to Meg and gave her a hug. "I'll see you soon, then."

"Soon as possible," said Meg.

Riley followed Principal Wood out of the classroom. She waved at Meg before closing the door behind her.

They walked through the halls just as silently as before. However, this time Riley felt much lonelier. Meg wasn't with her this time.

They reached another door quite like the one for the other classroom. The principal opened it.

"Mr. Sharp? I have a student that was supposed to be in your class for you."

Riley walked inside. This classroom was quite like Miss Beech's, except hers had an air of welcome in it. The window in this one didn't have the sun shining directly in it, so that might have been a part of it, but Riley still felt a slight feeling of foreboding as she stepped inside.

Mr. Sharp was exactly like his name. He seemed to have sharp edges defining him, on his nose, his suit, even his hair.

He nodded. "Come sit down, Riley. As I was saying, class, today we will be learning about equations."

Riley hurriedly walked over to a desk. She sat down at it and had started setting up her things when she noticed the seat beside her was empty, too. But she had no time to ponder about that, because Mr. Sharp had just asked her a question.

"What?" she said, looking up.

"Would anyone else like to answer the question for Riley?" said Mr. Sharp . . . sharply.

A girl on Riley's right raised her hand.

"Janessa," said the teacher.

The girl named Janessa stood up. "An exponent is where a number is multiplied by itself the number of times the exponent tells it to."

"Very good, Janessa," said Mrs. Sharp. Janessa sat back down with a smirk on her face. "Now can anyone show me an exponent?"

There was a scrabble of papers as everyone got them out, along with a pencil.

"This," said the boy right next to Riley. He stood up and showed the teacher a symbol on his calculator.

Mr. Sharp raised his eyebrows. "Good. Now show me an example on the board, Matthew."

The boy named Matthew walked to the front of the classroom, and with a piece of white chalk, drew an example of an exponent.

"Very good," said Mr. Sharp. "And Matthew has reminded me of one thing that I shall not allow in this class, which is calculators. No calculators on your phones, either. Give them to me. You may use them when I say so. I shall return them at the end of class."

There was a rustle of noise as everyone reluctantly handed him their calculators and phones. In all the noise, Riley was able to lean over and ask Matthew exactly what they were doing.

"Reviewing the parts of an equation," Matthew replied. "Load of rubbish; I've already learned it all." He grinned in a joking sort of way.

Riley blushed. "Oh."

"I'm Matthew, but everyone calls me Matt," Matthew continued.

"Oh, I'm Riley," said Riley.

"Nice to meet you, Riley," said Matt.

"All right, class, now can anyone tell me what P.E.M.D.A.S. stands for?" said Mr. Sharp.

"We can talk later," said Matt.

"All right," said Riley.

The rest of the class continued in this way. Mr. Sharp asked a lot of questions, testing everyone's memory on things like improper fractions and repeating decimals and whatnot. Once the bell had rung, Riley was relieved to pack everything up and leave the classroom. Matt was pulled off by some other boys before she had a chance to talk to him.

This hadn't been as bad as her class in Minnesota, but it was still bad that she still wasn't able to be with Meg the whole time. . . .

Speaking of which. . . .

"Riley! Guess what? We still have history together with Ms. Bluefeather!" she shouted, running up to her once class was out.

Riley snorted. "Is it really 'Bluefeather'?"

Meg grinned. "Yeah, it is. Oh! Riley, come and meet some of my other friends!" She pulled her off to the side. "Riley, this is Annie, Shelby, and Coral."

The four girls all said, "Hi," at the same time.

"I'm Annie," said the girl with bright red hair and lots of freckles. She had a welcoming and warm smile.

"Shelby."

"Coral."

"We're twins," said the one named Shelby. They both had blond hair, but they seemed fraternal. They also both had blue eyes, but Coral was a bit taller and their faces were a bit differently shaped.

Riley smiled. "Cool."

"Now come on!" said Meg. "We've gotta go to history now. These guys aren't in it, but they're in most of our other classes! Or—" Meg looked around "—do you wanna talk to that boy you like?"

"Well—let's get to class," said Riley hurriedly.

"Okay, then," grinned Meg. "Later."

"Later," agreed Riley.

* * *

Several hours later, school was over. Riley had not yet summoned the courage to talk with that one boy; however, she had since learned that he was unfortunately in the grade above her. She sighed as she and Meg climbed up into the bus and rode off back to their neighborhood.

"Wanna do homework together like we used to do?" Riley suggested.

Meg grinned. "Yeah! I'll go tell Mom." She raced off into her house and came back a minute later, panting.

"She says it's okay!" she said.

"Great," smiled Riley.

They walked into the Andersons' house and sat down at the kitchen table together before pulling out their schoolbooks and pencils. The two friends had just begun to do their homework for language arts when Meg said,

"So there's hockey practice tomorrow night, if you're able to make it."

Riley looked up from her schoolbook at her. "There is?"

"Yeah," said Meg. "Can you come?"

"I'll have to ask my parents," said Riley. "What with the move and all, they haven't had a whole lot of time to get me back on the team and stuff."

"I'm sure you'll be able to come," said Meg.

Riley nodded. "Hopefully." Then she made a really goofy face. "Maybe if I do _this_ to them!"

Meg started giggling like crazy until she nearly fell off her chair. "Yeah, I bet you'll get on the team with that face!"

They both spent several minutes laughing.

"Well," hiccupped Riley, "we'd better get back to work."

They both looked down at their books.

"Or we could take a break," suggested Meg. "We could read. We'd be reading anyways, except this'd be more fun. Have you started that new book I gave you yet?"

"The one about cats living in the wild? No, not yet," replied Riley.

"You've _got_ to!" exclaimed Meg. "The series—well, there's multiple series, but meh—it's so good! You've got to read it soon!"

Riley grinned. "I will. How about right now, then?"

"Yes!" said Meg. She pulled out a book from her bag. "I'll read this, while you read that. It's the second series of the . . . series."

"How many are there?" asked Riley as she walked down the hall to her room.

"A lot," replied Meg. "I can't even remember how many. Umm . . . five, maybe? I dunno. There's six books in each series, plus a bunch of 'special edition' ones in between."

"Wow," said Riley, grabbing the book from her desk and walking back out and into the living room.

"Yeah. My goal is to finish them all before the year is over," said Meg, plopping herself down onto the couch.

"And my goal is now to beat you." Riley grinned mischievously.

"You're on!" exclaimed Meg.

They both opened their books and had started reading hungrily. That is, until the door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Anderson walked in.

The girls both jumped up in surprise.

"Oh! Hi, Mom, hi, Dad," said Riley.

They both smiled at her. "Hi, Riley," said her mother.

"Oh—Meg and I were—well, we were going to do our homework together," Riley said in a somewhat guilty voice.

"Oh?" said Mrs. Anderson.

"Yeah, um, let's go do that, Riley," said Meg, and pulled her into the kitchen.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson exchanged looks before shrugging and walking into their room.

* * *

A little while later, Meg and Riley's homework was done. Meg had to go back to her house, and left with dramatic "goodbyes" coming from both her and Riley. By that time, dinner was ready, and the Anderson family sat down at the table.

Riley had a spaghetti noodle on its way towards her mouth when her mother said, "So, Riley, you're probably wondering how things went at the doctor today."

Riley looked up at her and her father and felt a sense of foreboding. "Yes?"

"And . . . well, as it turns out, everything is going to be okay," said Mrs. Anderson. Both she and her husband smiled.

Riley felt relief spill through her. Her mother was going to be okay. "Really?"

"Really," confirmed her father.

"That's great." Riley smiled. She was really, really relieved, and realized she'd been more frightened than she'd thought. Maybe everything would be okay . . . but, she supposed, life couldn't be perfect, could it?

In that she was extremely right.

* * *

 **. . . .And no, this is NOT the ending. Just to clarify.**


	7. Chapter 7: Another Day of School

**A/N: I am super super super super super super super super super super sorry about the late update. I had a LOT of math to do in a small amount of time, and other things as well. Anyways, so I've had some inspiration for something very major to happen in future chapters . . . maybe very future chapters, inspired by a story by Krypie: Floating in the Mind. Be sure to check it out! It's very good. :) So anyways, I'd like to thank InsideLove and Lord Darth Yoda for both favoriting and following my story. You guys are amazing! :D I'd also like to thank InsideLove, Sapstar (guest) (three reviews! Wow! :) Also, especially sorry to keep you waiting, you're awesome for your patience. :) Life comes first, you know. :P), Guest (guest), and Pro-CrafterZ for your reviews! You're AWESOME! :D**

 **Anyways, this chapter doesn't have a WHOLE lot going on in it, I figured the length was good enough, but hopefully the next chapters should be good. :) Also, if you have any plot ideas that might be good for the story, don't be afraid to let me know! :) I'm always grateful for things like that. Thanks for reading! :D**

* * *

Chapter Seven

Another Day of School

The next morning Riley woke up feeling somehow very fresh and new. She wondered why. Then she remembered: her mother was going to be just fine. She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes. Everything seemed all right now. She opened her eyes and climbed out of bed and changed, and then went to the kitchen for breakfast. Her parents were there. They smiled at her. Riley couldn't help but notice it was as though they were hiding something.

"Good morning," said her mother.

"Morning," yawned Riley.

She ate breakfast, and then grabbed her school things before going out the door. The bus wouldn't be coming for another five minutes. She pulled out her cat book from Meg and read for a little while before heading out to the bus, calling over her shoulder, "Bye, mom! Bye, dad!"

"Bye!" they called back to her.

She grinned as she went over to the bus. Meg raced out of her own house and up to Riley.

As they climbed onto the bus together, Meg asked, "What's made you so happy today?"

"Oh, nothing," replied Riley airily.

Meg raised her eyebrows. "Okay." Then she broke down into a fit of giggles for a reason Riley couldn't understand.

"What?" asked Riley.

"It's just . . . your outfit," giggled Meg.

Riley looked down. Indeed, she was wearing a new tank top and pair of rather short shorts, but what was wrong with that?

"What about it?" she said, suddenly feeling slightly nervous.

"Well, you're probably gonna get kind of cold there," said Meg.

"Oh." Riley felt her cheeks heat up a bit. "Ah, well, can't be that bad, can it?"

Meg nodded. "Totally."

They spent the rest of the ride to school talking quite cheerily. They hopped out of the bus, and Riley looked up at the daunting school towering above her. She suddenly felt a little nervous. After all, this was only her second day of junior high.

They walked inside.

"I'll be seeing you later, then," Meg said sadly, once they were at the hallway in which they would be going separate directions to get to their math classes.

"Guess so," said Riley. She waved at Meg as they separated, holding her schoolbag tightly against her chest. She still wasn't completely sure where her classroom was; maybe if the hallways would vary a little bit, it would be easier. A landmark here or there would be nice.

After a little while Riley determined that she was lost. However, class wasn't quite ready to start yet (there were still students around her), so she might still make it in time. But all of these kids were strangers.

Except for one. . . .

It was that boy she'd noticed the other day. The really cute one. Well, he even though he was in eighth grade, and she in seventh, he could be helpful in showing her the right direction of the classroom.

She walked over to him. Suddenly, a great wave of nervousness overcame her. But she had to be strong, if she was to get to class on time.

"H-hello?" she said tentatively.

The boy ignored her. He was talking to a quite pretty girl, who had long, blond hair and purple eyeshadow on.

"Excuse me," Riley said, a little louder.

The boy continued to ignore her. But then a voice that didn't come from him or the girl he was currently talking to came to Riley's ear.

"You lost?"

Riley whipped around and saw that she was staring straight at Matt.

"Oh! Oh, yeah," she stuttered. "Yeah."

"Were you trying to ask Tom over there?" Matt asked.

"Oh . . . yeah," said Riley. She felt her cheeks heat up a bit.

"He's not even in our grade. I'll help you," said Matt. He gave a small smile.

"Thanks," said Riley, relieved. She followed him back the opposite way she had come.

"Why'd you even try asking Tom?" Matt inquired, as they walked through the halls.

"Well. . . ." Riley pulled a hair back behind her ear. "I thought it would be kind of nice . . . I guess. . . ."

"Do you like him?" asked Matt.

Riley felt her cheeks go red again. "Well. . . . Yes."

"Don't worry, it's nothing to be ashamed of. All the girls in this school seem to have had a crush on him at one point or another," said Matt.

"Really?" said Riley. She suddenly felt a little worried. What if Tom already had a girlfriend? What—did she just think that? Did she really just think that? She was too young to think about having a boyfriend . . . she could wait a little while longer. . . .

"Riley? You-hoo, Riley!" Matt waved a hand over Riley's face.

She started. "Oh! Sorry, guess I zoned out a little. . . ."

Matt grinned. "Bet you did. Also, don't mix with Tom if you can help it. He's no good. Broke my sister's heart, actually."

"You have a sister?" Riley asked.

"Yep. Three of them, actually," replied Matt. "Ashley, Jenny, and Pen."

"Oh. Which one was it?" asked Riley.

"Ash," said Matt. "She's a year older than me, same as Tom. They're in most of the same classes together, and she hates it. She hates him, actually."

"Why? What happened?" said Riley curiously.

"Well, they dated for about a week. Then Ash found out Tom was seeing another girl. Didn't really work out after that." Matt shrugged. "Just goes to show that junior high relationships never last. Not a lot of high school ones do, either. An example would be Jenny. Pretty much the same thing, 'cept she and Tristen were dating for two years before she found out he was cheating on her. That sucked. She was crying for weeks on end. Stupid Tristen."

"Oh." Riley was silent for a moment.

"Funny how I never realized that all of my sisters' boyfriends names started with T," Matt noted. "Even the ones whose heart _they_ broke." He shrugged again. "Anyway, here's our class." He opened the door they had just gotten next to.

Riley followed him inside. Not all the chairs were filled, and a lot of the students were still getting out their things. Good, they weren't late.

She and Matt sat down. Riley wondered if anyone was going to be taking the spot on her right, unlike yesterday. It was a few minutes later when, apparently, there was.

It was that girl who had been talking to Tom earlier. She walked in just as Mr. Sharp was introducing the area of a hexagon to them. She plopped down on the seat next to Riley, her long hair swishing down her back as she pulled her books and such out.

"You're late," said Mr. Sharp . . . sharply. "And you were not here yesterday."

"Sorry. My mom was sick and I had to help out," said the girl lazily. "She's better today, so I could go to school. She's gonna have a baby, see." She said this all as though it were something one could wave aside quite easily.

Mr. Sharp nodded. "Fine. But don't be late next time."

"Sure thing, Mr. . . ."

"Sharp," said the teacher.

"Sharp," said the girl.

"And you are . . . Jemma Hartley, correct?" said the teacher.

Jemma nodded.

"Good. Now, does anyone already know how to calculate the area of a hexagon?" said Mr. Sharp.

As the girl Riley remembered to be called Janessa from yesterday raised her hand, she let her mind wander to different things than one half times base one plus base two times whatever. She was thinking about what she'd learned just this morning—in less than half an hour.

* * *

Anger fumed. "Why does that Jemima girl get to have Tom as a boyfriend? Riley should!"

"I didn't know you wanted Riley to have a boyfriend," said Sadness.

Ignoring Sadness's comment, Joy exclaimed, "I know! _She_ should have him. . . ."

"Uh, Anger, it's Jemma, not Jemima," said Disgust.

"But wouldn't having a boyfriend be kind of . . . scary?" said Fear uncertainly.

"No it wouldn't!" said Joy. "It would be _wonderful_!"

"Riley doesn't need a boyfriend," countered Disgust. "She's not old enough."

"You're always old enough for a boyfriend," Joy said fervently.

Disgust made a sound of . . . disgust. "No, there should be an age limit. Like, sixteen. Or eighteen, which even then is really young to be thinking about getting married."

"Getting married!" Fear exclaimed.

"Getting married?" echoed Joy. "Why would she think about getting _married_ at this age?"

"She wouldn't," said Disgust. "Isn't getting a boyfriend, like, you know, all about seeing if he's a good enough soul mate for Riley?"

"Of course not!" said Joy. "It's about, well . . . having a boyfriend!"

"Your argument is invalid," said Disgust.

"Well . . . can't she just _have_ one?" whined Joy.

"No. Besides, Tom's probably already dating that Jemma girl," said Disgust. "And remember what Matt said?"

"Matt!" exclaimed Joy suddenly. "She should date Matt!"

The other emotions all stared at her.

"He does seem like a nice guy," said Fear.

"He's not dating anyone," said Anger.

"He might break Riley's heart," piped up Sadness.

"Ugh!" exclaimed Disgust. "They're not _old_ enough to date yet, guys! Come on!"

"Fine. We'll talk about something else: Jemima," said Anger.

"Jemma," said all the other emotions.

"Potato potato," said Anger dismissively. "What about her mom? Isn't it not fair that _she_ gets to have a baby brother or sister?"

"Yeah . . . it isn't," said Joy. "But whatever!"

"It's really sad . . ." said Sadness.

"We should do something about it," said Anger. "We need to get revenge."

Everyone but Joy all nodded in agreement.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she said, before anyone could go up to the controls board. "Wait up, guys! It isn't even Jemma's fault that her mom's having a baby and Riley's isn't!"

They all glared at her (well, not really Sadness).

"Come on, guys, let's just try to be _happy_!" said Joy. She wrapped them up in a group hug. "Huh?"

"Okay . . ." said Fear.

"Whatever," said Disgust.

"I can't be happy," said Anger.

"Why are we supposed to be happy?" asked Sadness.

"Because we _are_!" said Joy. "Now, come on, we have a biiiig day ahead of us!"

* * *

"Riley? Riley!" Matt waved his hand in front of Riley's eyes again. "Back to reality Riley!"

Riley shook her head to clear it. "What?"

"Didn't you hear what Mr. Sharp said?" asked Matt. "He asked you to demonstrate how to find that hexagon's area." He gestured towards the chalkboard. "Go on."

Riley stuttered, "Oh, oh, whoops." She stood up and walked to the front of the classroom. Upon seeing the daunting hexagon in front of her, she wished she'd payed attention to what Mr. Sharp had been saying. "Um. . . ." She turned around. "Mr. Sharp?"

The teacher raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"

"I—I wasn't paying attention when you were explaining," said Riley. "I don't know how to do the area of a hexagon."

Mr. Sharp raised his eyebrows. "Thank you for telling me the truth, young lady. Would anyone else like to demonstrate?"

Ten hands went up into the air.

"How about you, Jemma? What is the area of this hexagon?"

Riley felt her cheeks go red as she walked back to her seat. Jemma brushed past her.

After doing some calculations on the board, she announced to the class, "This is the area."

They all nodded.

Riley looked down at her open textbook and attempted to read what the area of a hexagon was, thinking to herself that maybe all good days don't really last that way—especially when you're in middle school.

A little while later, it was time for lunch. Riley looked around the crowded halls of the school for Meg or even Annie or Coral or Shelby, but she couldn't find them. She sighed.

"Guess I'll see them at lunch, then . . ." she muttered to herself.

"What was that?" said Matt.

Riley hadn't realized he was right next to her. "Oh, nothing. I can't seem to find my friend."

"Who is she?" asked Matt.

"Meg Harper," replied Riley. "Poofy red hair, glasses, not hard to miss."

"Hmm. Well, I guess you _will_ see her at lunch, then." Matt grinned at her.

Riley smiled to. "Guess so."

As they walked through the halls of the school down to the cafeteria, Riley realized something: Matt was her friend. There hadn't been any verbal agreement on that count, but she suspected he felt the same way.

"So how old are your other sisters? Jenny and Pen, I mean?" she asked.

"Oh. Jen's in her last year of high school, and Pen's a year younger than me," replied Matt.

"Cool," said Riley.

"Do you have any younger siblings?" said Matt.

"No . . ." Riley said. She tried to keep the sadness out of her voice.

"Awe, that's too bad. But I guess younger siblings are overrated sometimes." He gave a small chuckle.

Riley appreciated his trying to lighten up her mood, but it didn't do very much. "Thanks."

"No prob," replied Matt.

Soon enough, they had reached the cafeteria. Riley sat down at a table and looked around. Still no Meg. That was odd. She shrugged as she began to eat her food.

"Still can't find her?" asked Matt.

"No . . ." said Riley. "It's weird. I saw her earlier today. And Meg usually can't wait for lunch."

"Hmm. She'll turn up eventually. What classes do you have with her?" said Matt.

"History, grammar, writing . . . a couple other ones, I can't remember," Riley replied.

"Cool. Hey, how come you weren't in school the past couple weeks?" asked Matt.

"I moved to San Francisco," Riley said. "Then my family came back; there were just too many good memories here to lose."

"Neato," said Matt. "I only just moved here last year. My . . . well, my mom lost her job . . . being a single mom isn't easy for her."

"Oh." Riley stared down at her mashed potatoes.

"Yeah. Dad died a few years ago," said Matt.

"I'm . . . I'm so sorry," said Riley helplessly.

"It's okay. We're getting over it. Still have mom, though." Matt gave a small smile.

"How did it happen?" said Riley. She suddenly wished she hadn't asked.

"Cancer," said Matt. "He'd had it a few years, and then. . . ."

"Oh." Riley couldn't help but think of her mother, who had gotten that exact same illness . . . but she was going to be all right, unlike Matt's father. . . ."

"Yeah, well, I'll see him again someday, you know?" said Matt. "It's not so bad if you think of that."

Riley looked at him. "You think so?"

"I know so," said Matt. "I've just got this good feeling inside me, you know? Like he's always going to be there for me, and I'll see him again someday."

"Yeah . . . I guess so." Riley continued eating. They ate in silence for a while, until the bell rang and signaled time for class.

"Come on. We're in history together, remember?" said Riley.

Matt nodded. "Yeah. Let's go learn about some evil Germans."

Riley laughed. "Not all of them are evil."

"Yeah," said Matt, "but they used to be."

Riley smiled. "Come on, let's go," and they walked out the door.


	8. Chapter 8: Hockey Practice

**A/N: Sup. Here's a new chapter. First of all, no, I have never played hockey in my life. Second of all, please leave a review or PM me if you would like to point something out to me that I should change concerning the hockey. It would be much appreciated. Anyways, thank you,** **ADD123.123 and gamby004 for favoriting, ADD123.123, gamby004, and Silverchaska for following, and InsideLove, Beep's B, Guest (guest), imnotraven16, Darth Lord Yoda, Pro-CrafterZ, SapStar (not-so guest anymore), and gamby004 for reviewing! :D You're awesome! In response to Darth Lord Yoda's review, thank you, yes, I suppose I do cover the life of a tween very well, considering I AM one. As a matter of fact . . . I'll only be going "teen" at the end of this month. So yeah. Kind of why I decided to write this fanfic, actually! :P Also, Pro-CrafterZ, it's no problem. As long as you read at some point, I am grateful! :P**

 **So one more thing before you can read the chapter (unless of course you want to right now. I wouldn't blame you. Just realize that what I'm about to say is rather important). I'm not sure exactly when I will be posting next, because I will be vacationing and I'm not sure when I'll have internet access over the next few weeks. But you can be sure that this is temporary, and I will be posting again ASAP.**

 **So thanks for reading! And ENJOY! (P.S. I actually didn't read through it because I was too impatient to post this so be warned—there may be some mistakes. But whatevs.)**

* * *

Chapter Eight

Hockey Practice

As it turned out (according to an out-of-breath Meg), Riley hadn't seen her at lunch because Meg was in the bathroom. The rest explained itself. So, at history (they'd gotten there a little early, about two minutes before they started learning about "evil Germans"), Riley was able to introduce Matt to Meg (and Annie, and Coral, and Shelby).

"Meg, this is Matt, Matt, this is Meg," said Riley.

"Hi!" said Meg, holding out her hand for him to shake. She gave a ginormous grin.

"Hi," said Matt. He took it, giving a small smile.

"So tell me about yourself," said Meg, putting her elbows on her desk and hands under her chin. Matt was at the desk in front of her (Riley sat on Meg's right). "Like, your favorite color, favorite book, favorite movie, all that good stuff."

"Well," said Matt, "As for my favorite color, I honestly can't decide. They seem to change every day, depending on my mood."

"Cool. Mine's blue," said Meg. "Now for your favorite book."

"There's this one _awesome_ series. You've probably heard of it. The Harry Potter books. Have you read those?" said Matt.

Meg gave a gasp of delight. "Of _course_ I've read those! I've read them, like, three times!"

"Five," said Matt, grinning.

Meg gaped at him. "I'm gonna beat you."

"Already on my sixth. Sorry, I can't be beaten," Matt joked.

Meg pretended to strangle him. "I—will—beat—you—before—I—die!"

They all laughed.

Then it was time for class. Once they were done learning about evil Germans, they had to separate into different classes for literature. And after a lot more classes, it was finally time to head home (for Riley and Meg), drop of their school things, grab their hockey things, and head to practice.

"I'm so excited!" exclaimed Meg. They were in the Andersons' car, in the backseat together. Mrs. Anderson was driving (Mr. Anderson wasn't yet back from a job interview). "Your parents are the _best_ for letting you go so soon after the move back!"

Riley grinned. "I know, right?" She stuck her tongue out at Meg. "Better than yours."

Meg gave a gasp of mock offense. "No they are not! My parents shall _always_ be better than _yours_!"

"No they wo-on't!"

"Yes they wi-ill!"

"Nu-uh!" said Riley.

"Uh-huh!" countered Meg.

"No way!"

"Hozay!"

"What?" Riley was a bit confused.

"Butt!" rhymed Meg.

"Meep." Riley face-palmed herself.

"Bleep!"

"Keep," said Riley.

"Peep!" exclaimed Meg.

"Leap!"

"Steep!"

"Beep!" shouted Riley.

"Cheap!" yelled Meg.

"Deep!"

"Creep!"

"Weep!" said Riley.

"Heap!" said Meg.

"Asleep!"

"Bighorn sheep!"

"Marco Polo's sheep!"

"Sneep!"

"Sneep?" asked Riley.

"Yes, Sneep!" shouted Meg. "Like Snape and a sheep had a baby."

"That's offensive to all Snape fans," said Riley.

"Whatevs! Complete!"

"That doesn't rhyme with 'Sneep.'"

"Leap!" said Meg.

"I already did that one."

"Fine! I win!"

"No, you do not!" exclaimed Riley.

"Yes, I do!"

"Nope!"

"Yes!"

"No—"

"How about you guys continue this game later?" interrupted Mrs. Anderson. She was referring to what Meg and Riley had been doing. It was something they had made up a while ago when they were still in kindergarten, learning about rhymes. Whenever one of them said some sort of random word, the other exclaimed a word that rhymed with that word. Then they continued until there were no "rhymable" (as Meg put it) words left, and whoever said the last word won. It was a very fun game that they hadn't played in years, but still remembered.

Meg and Riley exchanged looks.

"Fine," they said at the same exact time, and instantly broke down into giggles.

"You girls are crazy," said Mrs. Anderson.

"We know," they said.

"And proud of it!" exclaimed Meg as an afterthought.

"Well, we're here. Why don't you work out that craziness on the ice, aye?" said Mrs. Anderson.

"Perfect!" said Riley.

"Absolutely!" agreed Meg.

Giggling like Giggle Monsters (something they had also invented quite a while ago), Meg and Riley hopped out of the car and grabbed their hockey things. They raced across the parking lot of the ice rink and opened the doors. Riley closed her eyes as she raced through the halls. She had not been here in a long time, but she'd come here for practice so often that she could even walk there in her sleep.

They burst into the rink, and Riley's face expanded with an enormous beam. This must be what it felt like to be in heaven, she thought.

"Hi!" she shouted to the other kids on her team, who were all getting their pads and skates on.

"Hi!" They waved back and greeted her enthusiastically (at least, those she knew).

Riley and Meg joined them, and suddenly Riley was enveloped in an enormous hug from a lot of people.

She grinned. "Hey, guys. Hey, Coach Ashley."

Her team's coach smiled. "Hey, glad to have you back. Do you by any chance know where your mom is, Riley?"

Riley pointed her thumb behind her. "Somewhere over there."

"Thanks," said her coach, and went in the direction of Riley's mother.

"Wonder why she wants to talk with her," said Meg.

Riley shrugged. "She hasn't seen her yet. Probably wants to catch up, you know."

"I'm so happy you're back, Riley!" exclaimed one of the girls who had been in the hug with her.

Riley beamed as she pulled on her hockey pads. "Me, too, Bailey."

"It's been, like, forever," added a girl named Jenna.

"I know," agreed Riley, concentrating hard on getting her things on. Once she was done, she looked up and noticed that the blond-haired girl from her math class, Jemma, was there, too.

"Why's Jemma here?" she asked Meg.

"Oh, she joined the team a little while after you left," replied Meg. "I told you about her a while ago, remember?"

"Oh. Yeah." Riley watched as Jemma pulled on the last of her things and zoomed out onto the rink. Man, she was good. Graceful. Like a professional ice skater, rather than an amateur hockey player. "Weren't you two, like, friends?"

"Yeah, but you know, since you got back, I've had to spare some attention to _you_ huh!" said Meg jokingly.

Riley chuckled. "Guess so."

"Let's get back on the rink, then! We've still got a few minutes 'til practice starts," said Meg. She pulled Riley over to the ice, and as Riley stepped on, she felt suddenly elated. She was finally back on the ice. She zoomed around the edges of the rink, and as she did so, she felt as if she were an angle, going around the world to help people. Meg followed her after a moment.

"Feels good, huh?" she said.

Riley grinned. "Better."

"All right, guys, let's get going," said Coach Ashley. "Not you, Riley," she added, as the said girl joined the others in a spot on the rink. "I need to talk with you for a second."

"What is it?" Riley asked, unease creeping into her stomach.

"Well, since you were away from the team so long, you're going to have to try out again," said her coach. She sounded like she thought it would be something of a waste of time.

"Oh." Riley fell silent, looking down at her feet. Then she looked back up at Coach Ashley. "Okay. Should be easy-peasy, huh?"

Coach smiled. "Sure will. Justin'll be testing you," she said, referring to the assistant coach."

Riley nodded. "'Kay. See you in a bit, then."

"Yep," said her coach, and skated off to join the rest of the team.

Riley sighed. Well, she supposed it wasn't too bad that she had to try out again. It could be worse, she decided. She skated up to the tall, lean form of Coach Justin, who nodded at her unsmilingly and had her skate up to a goal. He then shot hockey pucks at her. She only missed one out of the five he shot. Not bad, she supposed, but she knew she could have done better.

Next he had _her_ shoot the puck. She skated over in front of the goal and was looking at him preparing to shoot. Riley then sent the puck sliding at him. He missed. It went in. Riley grinned. She got in three more pucks when she suddenly felt a small something shoot into her eye: a hockey puck. She gasped and slid backwards, holding her face where the puck had hit.

"Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry!"

Riley stood up straighter and saw Jemma zooming over to her, a look of concern on her face. She helped her up.

"I am so sorry, Riley," she said.

Riley shook her head. "It's fine . . . just a hockey puck. . . ."

Jemma gave a smile of relief. "Oh, good." She zoomed off back towards where the others were practicing.

Justin skated over to Riley. "You okay?" he said gruffly.

Riley suddenly had to resist the urge to cry. "Fine," she said shortly. The tears would come if she spoke any more.

Justin nodded. "Okay. You ready for more?" he said, unusually gently (he was a rather tough man, not easy to get sympathy from).

Riley nodded, too. She would have said more, but the temptation to cry was even more insistent. She skated back to where she had been shooting and attempted to get the puck inside the goal, but she kept missing. She was so bad that Justin decided only five minutes later to stop.

"You all right?" he asked as they skated over and out of the rink.

Riley sighed as she plopped herself down on a bench and stared out at the other hockey players. "Fine. Could be better, could be worse."

Justin nodded and stood up. "Your mom can take you home, then, and patch you up. You can try out properly later."

Riley nodded, and then realized something that her mother was taking Meg home, too, but she didn't bring it up. Instead she sat there, staring out at the practicing kids. Her mother had stayed there to watch her try out (and then practice), and so she came by and sat down next to Riley.

"Are you okay?" she asked concernedly.

"Fine," said Riley.

Her mother squeezed her. "You sure you want to wait here? I can take you home and then come back for Meg."

Riley shook her head. "It's okay."

"All right, then," said Mrs. Anderson.

"I have to go to the bathroom," said Riley. She stood up and exited the bleachers and walked in the direction of the bathrooms. She entered. No one was there. She stepped into the largest of the cubicles, alone with her thoughts and the pain in her eye (which was slowly getting worse). She felt sick. Almost as though she was going to cry.

* * *

"How did Jemima hit her in the _face_ when she was _behind_ Riley?!" shouted Anger. His head went aflame for a moment.

"Well . . . she might have . . . been getting the puck . . . and accidentally hit her . . ." said Joy uncertainly.

"No," said Anger. "This was on purpose. Jemima has to pay."

The other emotions (except for Joy) were all saying words of agreement, and Anger was going up to the board and pressing some buttons when Joy rushed up to him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," she said hurriedly. "First of all, it's not Jemima, it's Jemma. Second of all . . . well . . . it could have been an accident . . . couldn't it?"

"No, it wasn't!" said Fear. "I'm sure it wasn't! And I couldn't help Riley! She might have gotten really hurt!"

"She's fine," said Joy, "I'm sure. She just got bruised, that's all."

"Why would Jemma want to hurt Riley?" Sadness wondered.

"I know, right?" said Disgust. "It's weird."

"She must be jealous of Riley," said Fear. "Or maybe she doesn't like her! Or she just _wants_ to hurt Riley!"

Everyone was looking at him in awe, wondering if this was true. They all nodded their heads in agreement, until Joy said exasperatedly, "Oh, come _on_ , guys! Let's not jump to conclusions, okay?"

They all looked at her.

"Look, okay—oh." Joy looked up at the screen in front of them. Riley was looking at herself in the mirror. Her face was red and tears covered it. It was then that Joy noticed Sadness at the board. She sighed. "Riley got a black eye."

"See!" said Anger. "Jemi—"

"Jemma!" interrupted the other emotions (except for Sadness).

"Jemma! Whatever!" said Anger. "She gave Riley a black eye! She needs to pay for what she did! No one hurts Riley!"

"Yeah!" said Disgust and Fear together.

"Ugh." Joy sighed and turned away from Anger and looked at the screen. But then, of course, she supposed that they were right: _no one_ hurt Riley.


	9. Chapter 9: The Sleepover at Meg's

**A/N: HELLO HELLO HELLO, PEOPLE! I AM BACK! THOUGH NOT OFFICIALLY, I AM BACK! (If that makes any sense). First of all, didn't actually read through this chapter before posting it, so sorry if there are some weird things in there. Second of all, I'm afraid the Emotions aren't exactly in this chapter. *sighs* But I think you'll like the ending . . . and no, it is NOT the end of the book, either. More things are to come. *evil laughter***

 **So I would like to thank SarkasticPapoy, Hellman76, BlackButlerFan13, Starburst768, and Thenextbigthing1 for favoriting. :) Next, I would like to thank SarkasticPapoy, Hellman76, Lilljo, BlackButlerFan13, and booklover30001 for following. :) And finally, here's a grand old thanks to Lord Darth Yoda, TheOneAndOnly1993, gamby004, Roflol (guest), InsideLove, Harmony Avery (guest), Beep's B, Starburst768, and Thenextbigthing1 for reviewing! :D You guys are awesome! :D :D Also, in reply to Thenextbigthing1's review, I will make a note to fix that. Thanks for pointing that out. :)**

 **Anyways, enough of my blabbling. ENJOY! :D**

 **By the way… my birthday was three days ago. MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!**

Chapter Nine

The Sleepover at Meg's

As Riley stared at her bruised and red face in the mirror, she heard footsteps from behind her. She turned around quickly, hands on the counter behind her, and saw Jemma coming through the bathroom door.

Jemma cocked her head, looking at Riley. "Sorry about that again," she said. Riley wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not. She stood there, staring at her. Riley was frozen, fear bubbling up inside her.

"Might want to put some ice on that," Jemma continued. "Before it swells up." She then stepped over to the sink. "Excuse me. Meg was passing out fruit snacks; my hands are all sticky." She gave Riley an odd look, almost smirking.

"Oh, uh, sure," said Riley, and stepped aside. She started walking towards the bathroom door.

"Wait," said Jemma.

Riley stopped, her hand hovering above the door handle.

"Just so you know, Riley . . ." Jemma said slowly. "Don't get in my way."

Riley turned around. "What?"

"Don't get in my way," Jemma repeated. She gave a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Excuse me again, I need to get back to the team. Good luck being able to come on Thursday, Riley."

With that, she'd walked past Riley, opened the door, and stepped outside of the bathroom, leaving Riley alone, fear and uncertainty threatening to burst out of her.

* * *

Riley was silent as she stepped out of the bathroom a minute later, as other girls came into it, also feeling the need to wash the stickiness of the fruit snacks off of their hands. She was silent as she gathered up her hockey things, trying to cover the bruise forming over her eye with her hair. She seemed even quieter in the car on the way home, Meg chattering away to Mrs. Anderson about what she and her teammates had done at hockey practice.

"And everybody liked the fruit snacks, too, you too, right, Riley?"

Riley started. She turned away from watching the city zoom by through the window, lighting up the dark night sky.

"What?" she asked.

"The fruit snacks! I asked Jemma to give you one," said Meg.

Riley shook her head. "She didn't give me any fruit snacks."

Meg's brow furrowed. "That's weird. Maybe she forgot."

Riley nodded slightly. "Maybe."

Meg's expression turned back to excitement. "Anyway, so Coach Ashley said that apparently since the team is too big now, no one else is gonna be allowed to join. A couple other kids want to try out for the opening spot. She didn't say anything more, though."

Meg then turned to Riley. "So, what's up with you? You've been hiding your eye all evening."

Riley blushed. "Oh . . ." she stuttered, scratching the back of her neck. She turned away from Meg. "It's nothing. . . ."

"Nothing is always something," said Meg promptly. "Let me see it."

"No, I—"

"How is your eye, Riley?" came Mrs. Anderson's voice from the front seat. "We probably should have put some ice on it earlier. . . ."

"It's—it's fine—" said Riley.

Meg leaned over on her. "No—it—is—not!" she grunted. She promptly pulled aside Riley's blond hair and just as promptly gasped. "Riley! What happened? You've got a black eye!"

Riley turned away from her. "I got hit with a hockey puck," she said.

Meg gasped again. "During tryouts? Oh, Riley!"

"It's not that bad," muttered Riley.

"You'll have to get ice on that for sure," said Meg. She slumped back in her seat, staring at Riley for a while. There was silence. Then she said suddenly, "Hey, Mrs. Anderson? Can Riley and I have a sleepover?"

There was a pause. "Maybe. I'll have to talk to your mom, since it's such short notice. Plus, it's a school night, so you'd have to get to bed early."

"We're next door neighbors! We're practically family! I'm positive my mom'll let us!" said Meg.

"All right," said Riley's mother. She sounded like she was smiling. "I'm fine with it, as long as your mother is. I'll have to get you some ice, Riley. I knew I should have done it at the rink."

"Yippee!" exclaimed Meg. "We can do our astronomy project together, Riley!"

Riley nodded, giving a small smile. "Yeah, we can."

"Whoo!" said Meg. "I feel like—like I can _fly_! We should watch 'Peter Pan' tonight!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Mrs. Anderson. "No Peter Pan, no movies, no staying up past nine. You have school tomorrow. I don't want either of you to be crabs in the morning," she added jokingly.

Meg made her hands look like claws. "Oh, I'm such a crabby crab," she said exasperatedly (though it was obviously only pretend). "I think I'm going to _pinch_ someone!" She leaned over and did just that to Riley's nose.

Riley laughed. "And I shall pinch _you_!" She did so.

"I shall pinch you again!" said Meg.

"No, I shall pinch _you_ again!" countered Riley.

"You!" exclaimed Meg.

"You!" said Riley.

"Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooou!" Meg nearly shouted, in one extremely long "you" before promptly pinching Riley's nose once again.

Riley laughed. She snorted. And then she couldn't stop laughing and snorting. And then Meg did the same. And that was pretty much how it was like for the rest of the ride home.

* * *

"All right, girls, go see if Amy is all right with you having a sleepover tonight," said Mrs. Anderson once she had parked in the Andersons' driveway. (She had been referring to Mrs. Harper. Amy was her first name.)

Meg and Riley hopped out of the car (completely forgetting their hockey things in the trunk), and ran up to Meg's house. They rang a few times before an answering call of, "I'll get it, hold your horses," came from inside.

The door opened to reveal Mr. Harper. "Well, hello there. How was hockey practice? Meg, bring your stuff inside, where is it, anyway?"

"Hi," said Meg and Riley at the same time.

"Where's Mom?" Meg asked, pushing her way inside. Riley followed suit.

"In the nursery with the baby," replied her father.

"Great. Come on, Riley." Meg proceeded to grab her friend's arm and pull her down the hall and into the nursery (where they had visited the other day).

She opened the door slowly, so as not to startle baby Ethan. Mrs. Harper greeted them with a smile.

"Hello, girls. How was practice?" she said.

"Great," said Meg. "Riley got a black eye."

"Oh, my goodness! Have you put ice on that yet? Here, Megan, take the baby," said Mrs. Harper, standing up from her rocking chair and handing Ethan over to Meg. "Riley, come with me."

Riley followed Mrs. Harper into the kitchen as she put together a bag of ice with a paper towel wrapped around it. Meg followed them, Ethan nestled carefully into her arms.

"Thanks," Riley said gratefully as she sat down at the kitchen table.

"Of course!" said Mrs. Harper.

"Hey, Mom?" said Meg.

"Yes, Meg?" said Mrs. Harper.

"Can Riley and I have a sleepover? Pleeeease?" asked Meg.

"Well—"

"Pretty please?" Meg continued.

"Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?" Meg and Riley said together. They giggled.

Mrs. Harper smiled. "Perhaps. But no movies. No staying up past nine."

They both nodded.

Mrs. Harper turned to Riley. "Did you ask your mom yet?"

Riley nodded. "She said yes if you said yes."

"Then it's settled," said Mrs. Harper decidedly. "Meg, go put your hockey things away. Riley, grab some pajamas and a toothbrush. You girls can sleep on the couch tonight."

Riley and Meg's faces lit up. "Yay!" they exclaimed together, and ran off to do exactly that.

* * *

The Harpers' sofa was a large one, with a material like leather and cushions like clouds. It had two plump things that Riley could never remember the name of, like couch-material coffee tables. Meg had gathered up some blankets and pillows, they had already headed outside and written down the current phase of the moon, and were now snuggled next to each other, whispering.

"I'm sooooo glad you're back in Minnesota," said Meg happily.

"Me, too." Riley giggled.

"Otherwise, you might never have met Ethan!" Meg added.

Riley felt her stomach drop. "Yeah, maybe . . . though I probably would have at some point. . . ." She suddenly felt sick. Maybe it was the pizza they had had that night—along with the forbidden candy—but she suspected that was only part of it.

"I mean . . . yeah, that's true, but I don't think I would have stood it if you saw him when he was, like, two, or something! You know?" Meg joked.

"Yeah. . . ." Riley couldn't trust herself to say anything more. She felt like she was going to throw up.

"Yeah. . . ." Meg sighed. "You wouldn't have been able to see your little baby brother, would you?"

Though this had probably meant to cheer Riley up (because Meg could see that her face was getting green), because their families were like—well, _family_ to each other, it did the opposite.

"I need to use the bathroom . . ." Riley said desperately. And then she puked on the floor.

"Riley!" Meg cried out. She jumped up. "I'll go get my mom."

Riley threw up a bit more of her dinner, panting, before she knelt on the ground in front of the red, yellow, and brown pile. It looked disgusting. She heard Meg yelling out to her mother in the distance.

A minute later, Mrs. Harper and Meg had reappeared in the room.

"Oh, dear," said the former. The sound of a baby's crying had filled the house. "He'll wake up everybody. Meg, could you go get him please?"

"Sure," said Meg. She ran off into the hallway.

"You're not feeling well, are you?" asked Mrs. Harper gently. She placed a hand on Riley's forehead. "Hmm. No fever. Maybe this sleepover wasn't the best idea. You've both had a long day. Let's clean you up and then I'll take you back to your own house, okay?"

Riley nodded, not really thinking clearly.

"I'll be right back," said Mrs. Harper. She hurried into the kitchen and came back a minute later with a plastic pitcher, paper towels, and baby wipes in hand.

"There you go, sweetie," she said, wiping Riley's face will a wipe until it was clean of barf. "Take this if you need to throw up any more, okay?" She handed her the pitcher.

Riley nodded and took it. She shakily lifted herself up onto the couch and sat there, staring into its depths. Her mother had these for when her family got sick and started hurling. They called them barf buckets. This one smelled nicely like soap. Not like the ones at home. They stank, no matter how much Mrs. Anderson cleaned them.

"There we go," said Mrs. Harper and few minutes later. Riley looked up. The spot on the ground where she had thrown up was spotless. "Come on, let's get you home."

There was silence for a moment. Riley felt too tired to move.

"Sounds like Meg's got Ethan to sleep," Mrs. Harper breathed.

Riley nodded. She stood up. "I want to say goodbye to her," she said.

"You know what, we'd better get you back home," said Mrs. Harper resignedly. "You'll see Meg tomorrow, anyways."

Riley nodded again, not in the mood for protesting. She followed her friend's mother over to her own front door before realizing she still had her barf bucket in her hands.

"Oh. I still have this," she said.

"You can keep it for now," said Mrs. Harper. "Just return it tomorrow." She rang the doorbell.

A few minutes later, Mrs. Anderson came to the door and opened it. She looked tired and surprised and had a smear of what might also have been barf on her cheek.

"Oh! Riley! Amy! What's wrong?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Riley had a little accident," said Mrs. Harper.

"Oh, sweetie, are you okay?" said Riley's mother. Riley went over to her and felt herself being enveloped in a tight, warm hug.

"Fine," she muttered, and breathed deeply.

"I'd better get back to the house," said Mrs. Harper. "See you. Let me know how Riley's doing tomorrow, Lea."

"I will," said Mrs. Anderson. Mrs. Harper left.

"So you threw up, then?" she asked as she went into the house, closing the door behind her and Riley.

Riley nodded.

"Is there something wrong? You eat something funny?" her mother continued.

 _Just the fact that I'm overly jealous of Meg because she has so many younger siblings and I don't . . ._ Riley thought.

"Come on, let's get you to bed," said Mrs. Anderson.

"I left all my stuff at Meg's," said Riley as she slipped under the covers.

"That's okay, we'll get it all tomorrow," said her mother reassuringly. "I have to babysit for Amy, anyways. Ethan."

Riley started to feel sick again. But she didn't exactly feel like barfing. More like crying. Her stomach was tight and it hurt. So did her throat.

"Hey. Heard the door open. Everything okay?" Mr. Anderson walked into the room.

"She threw up," said his wife.

"Oh, poor girl," said Riley's father.

Her mother nodded.

Riley let out a sob.

"Honey, are you okay?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

Suddenly, Riley couldn't take it anymore.

"N-no!" she cried out. They looked at her, concerned.

"I—I mean—" she stuttered. Then she took a deep breath. "It's just. . . ."

"What, Riley?" her mother asked.

"It's—I just can't _take_ it anymore!" Riley shouted. "The fact that Meg has so many younger siblings, and I don't, and it's just killing me! Mom . . . Dad . . . why didn't you ever try for more? Why? Why is it just me? Why am I so _alone_?!"

Her parents were shocked. They looked at each other worriedly, and then back at Riley.

"And then—and then when Mom almost—when you got—got that _thing_ , I just . . . I wasn't sure even that slightest hope could . . . could be of some _point_ ," Riley continued. "I just . . . I just. . . ." She couldn't say anything else.

"Oh, Riley," said Mr. Anderson. "We never knew. . . ."

"We _did_ try," said Mrs. Anderson. "For years, we tried. It just didn't seem like our family was supposed to get any bigger."

Riley looked at them, eyes red. "I wish you had tried harder."

Her parents exchanged looks again.

"Well . . . the thing is . . ." her mother started hesitantly, "it _didn't_ seem that our family was going to grow. . . ."

Riley stared at her. "Mom . . .?"

Her parents looked at her closely.

"Well . . . we didn't want to tell you this until we were certain things would hold out all right, considering . . . considering the last time . . ." Mr. Anderson said carefully.

"But . . . maybe it's better if we tell you now," added Mrs. Anderson.

"So . . . I guess it's time to tell you . . . Riley. . . ." Her father took a deep breath. "You're going to be a big sister."

Riley's heart skipped a beat. "I—what? I—I am?"

Her mother nodded and put a hand to her stomach. "In less than nine months, yes."

Riley looked from one parent to the other. "R-really?" She could hardly believe this to be true.

"Really," both of her parents said at the same time.

Suddenly, Riley's mouth spread into the biggest beam she had ever had. She grabbed them both into a hug.

"You guys are amazing," she said, her voice muffled, as her face was between both of her parents' shoulders.

"You're even more so," said her father.

"But my new brother or sister will be the most amazing of all of us," grinned Riley.

"I think we'll all be equally amazing," said her mother.

And Riley agreed.


	10. Chapter 10: Digesting the News

**A/N: HI, GUYS! Suuuper sorry about the update delay. Things got crazy . . . just got back from vacation, and I have swim practice and school, you know the gist. Saw "Inside Out" for the second time, too. Also, I might be changing a few things in this story, but nothing drastic, so if you happen to notice something off about Riley's age or something later, don't worry—though I might keep things how they are. I'm not completely sure. *shrugs* Watching the movie really refreshed my mind of things for this story, anyways. :)**

 **I'd like to thank** **Mindscape-v2903 for favoriting, InsideLove, Guest (guest), Lord Darth Yoda (by the way, no, that's not what I was trying to imply), Gamby004, Guest (guest), IHATEHANS987 (guest), and JayHawk134 for reviewing. :) You guys are awesome! :D**

 **Anyways, enjoy! :D**

* * *

Chapter Ten

Digesting the News

"Why in Starclan's name did you make Riley throw up?!" exclaimed Anger, just after Riley's said accident, and a few minutes before the big news. His head caught on fire.

"I—I don't know!" said Fear, twisting his fingers together uncertainly.

"Why did you use the swear they have in Riley's new book?" Disgust questioned of no one in particular. She didn't get an answer, but the argument between Anger and Fear continued. Well—argument in Anger's case, at least.

"Now she feels terrible!" said Anger.

"She needed her parents," said Sadness in a small voice—she and Fear had worked together at the big control board to cause Riley to hurl.

Anger shook his head. His fire lessened. "True, true . . . but now she feels terrible."

"You just said that," said Disgust.

"Hey, all right, let's just calm down here . . . calm . . . doooooown . . ." said Joy, putting her hands down for emphasis, breaking up in the middle of them. "Look—" She pointed to the screen.

They all looked.

"See?" Joy continued. "Riley's going back to her parents, just like Sadness wanted, and then they'll make her happy!"

"Like they ever do that," Anger scoffed.

Joy threw him a disapproving look before turning back to the screen.

They all watched through Riley's eyes as she was taken back to her parents, standing at their places at the control board. And then. . . .

". . .You're going to be a big sister."

The emotions' hearts all skipped a beat with Riley. They stood in silence, mouths agape, shocked, waiting for more.

"I—what? I—I am?" said Riley.

"We are?!" exclaimed everyone—Fear in a rather scared voice, as though he was anticipating the pain Riley's mother would eventually have to go through as though he was going to go through it himself; Anger in an excited voice; Sadness, with a flicker of hope on her face; Disgust with a softened expression quickly replaced by slight disgust; and Joy, with, obviously, the happiest face of the lot.

Riley's mother nodded and put a hand to her stomach, and said, "In less than nine months, yes."

Fear pushed on some buttons and pulled some levers.

Riley looked from one parent to the other, the screen moving to each. "R-really?" she said uncertainly.

"Really," both of her parents said at the same time.

It was Joy's turn to press some buttons.

Riley's mouth spread into the biggest beam she had ever had—the same sized beam Joy had at the moment. She grabbed both her parents into a hug.

"You guys are amazing," she said, her voice muffled, as her face was between both of her parents' shoulders.

"You're even more so," said her father.

"But my new brother or sister will be the most amazing of all of us," grinned Riley.

"I think we'll all be equally amazing," said her mother.

Riley nodded very enthusiastically.

"Well, let's get you to bed, now," said Mrs. Anderson.

The girl yawned. So did the emotions.

"Okay," she said.

Riley was led off to bed, and was tucked under the covers. But it was a little while before she fell asleep, because her thoughts were whirling around inside her like crazy—however, tonight, she would sleep peacefully.

Now that everything was quiet, and Riley was alone with her thoughts, the emotions looked at each other.

Joy was the first to speak.

"MOM'S GONNA HAVE A BABY!" she yelled out. She started jumping around the room, dancing, twirling, leaping, etc.

"Mom and Dad make Riley not feel sad," said Sadness, reaching out to her, attempting to make her stop—she was feeling a little dizzy watching her dance—but was too tired, and halted.

"I know, right?!" exclaimed Joy, twirling by the other emotions.

"Yes!" said Anger. "Now things are _fair_!"

"I wonder what it'll look like?" said Disgust.

"It's—Mom's gonna be okay, though, right?" asked Fear uncertainly. "I mean . . . remember Charlie Peterson's mom?"

"Oh, she'll be fine!" said Joy unconcernedly, tapping him on the nose as she zoomed by. "Besides, she's had a baby before, remember? Charlie was adopted. Anyway, that's a depressing subject, and this is no time to be depressed!"

"But—I like depression . . ." said Sadness.

"Oh, bother that, let's be _happy_!" sang Joy. She grabbed Sadness's hands and attempted to twirl her with her.

"I'm not good at being happy," protested Sadness, sliding along, Joy pulling her.

"Well—that's—that's—not happy," said Joy. She stopped. Then she started dancing again, pulling Sadness around with extreme strength.

The other emotions watched.

Joy started humming enthusiastically to a song Riley had listened to recently, one that made her very happy—a romantic song from a movie called "Tangled." Then she thought of something, and stopped.

"Oh . . . Bing Bong's not here to hear about this!" she said suddenly.

"Bing Bong?" said Sadness.

"Yeah—remember—he kind of got . . . forgotten," said Joy sadly.

"Oh, yeah, you told us about that," said Disgust.

"Yeah . . . well, I'm sure he's thinkin' about us somewhere!" said Joy, in an attempt to cheer herself up. "Ehe . . . he . . . he," she laughed uncertainly.

There was silence.

"Well, let's get to bed," said Disgust, walking away to her place to sleep. "'Night."

"See ya in the morning," said Anger, following after her.

"Good night!" said Fear. He joined them.

"'Night," Joy called over to them, but stayed there.

"Joy, come on, it's time to sleep," said Sadness, pulling on Joy's arm gently.

"I'm gonna stay up on dream duty," said Joy, but she yawned—though she tried her best to hide it.

Sadness was not fooled. "I'll do it tonight, Joy, you go get some sleep." She started pulling on her.

"But I—"

"Come on, I'll do it," Sadness repeated.

Joy groaned as Sadness dragged her off—but she was right—she _was_ sort of tired.

* * *

No dreams came for Riley tonight. Hers was a peaceful sleep, and then she woke up, not feeling quite so refreshed as she would have liked, but she didn't have that empty feeling in her stomach anymore. As she blinked her eyes open, she wondered why that was so. And then she remembered all that had occurred last night.

 _I . . . I'm gonna have a little baby brother or sister . . . I'm gonna have a little baby brother or sister!_

Her stomach seemed to twirl at the thought. But then anxiety crept up inside her. What if something happened, like it had before? What if . . . what if there was another . . . another. . . .

She couldn't even think the word. It would just depress her. This was no time to be depressed. She had to think of the good things.

For real, Riley was going to be a big sister.

Her dream was coming true.

She leapt out of bed, stretched, and twirled around again to quickly make her bed. Riley practically flew out of her room, leaving it neat and tidy behind her, and into the hallway. She skipped into the kitchen to see her parents in there already, and a delicious aroma filled the room. Bacon, eggs, and sliced up oranges were on three different plates on the center of the table.

"Good morning!" she said happily, sitting down on her chair. She placed some of the food on her plate, and after a quick blessing on it, she dove in.

Her parents smiled at her from their places at the table.

"Good morning," said her mother.

"How's our little monkey? Ooh-ooh-ah-ah!" Mr. Anderson said, doing his monkey impersonation.

Riley grinned. "Great! Ooh-ooh-ah-ah-ah!"

"Good. Now hurry up and eat; the bus'll be here soon," said her mother, standing up and taking her plate to the sink. She rubbed her stomach absently.

Riley's grin widened. "Sure thing, Mom."

Soon enough, she had finished her own food, set her plate in the sink, and was off to her room. She changed quickly, went to the door, opened it, called, "Bye!" over her shoulder, and dashed outside.

Meg was standing out there already, backpack on her shoulders.

"Hi," she said. "How're you doing?"

"Great!" said Riley enthusiastically.

Meg grinned. "So you're all better now?"

Riley nodded. "Perfect."

"Yay!"

They both giggled.

Suddenly, Riley felt something land on her head. She looked up. Thin droplets of water were falling from the many gray clouds above her. She sighed contentedly.

"Looks like it's sprinkling," she said.

Meg nodded. "Yeah. I loooove the rain!" She started running around in it, eyes closed and a smile on her face.

Riley giggled. "Me, too." She copied her friend. They spent a happy minute trying to catch rain droplets on their tongues. Then the bus came.

The both stopped, grabbed their backpacks (which had been dropped on the ground), and climbed up into the vehicle. They walked together to their usual spot (as of late), and started talking about random things until they arrived at the school. They hopped out after the other kids and walked up to the school.

"So, what've we got today?" said Riley.

"Uh . . . I think we have . . . chemistry first," replied Meg, shutting her eyes in an attempt to help her remember. "Yeah, that's it."

"Great," said Riley. They stepped out of the rain, which was now heavier, and into the school. "Where to first?"

"I think it's . . . that way," said Meg, pointing to the left of them, down a long-looking hallway. "It's on the bottom floor."

"Cool beans," said Riley.

They started walking in that general direction, amidst the crowd of other students. There was silence for a little bit, and then Meg broke it.

"So, just out of curiosity, why're you so chipper this morning?" she asked.

Riley started. She'd been examining the back of a girl's boy-short haired head without realizing what she was doing.

"Oh . . . nothing," she said mysteriously.

"Awe, come on, you know you can tell me anything, Riley!" said Meg, punching her friend's arm playfully.

"Well . . ." said Riley hesitantly, as they stepped through the doorway to their chemistry classroom. They plopped down at a table together and took off their backpacks.

Riley wondered if she should tell Meg what she'd just learned last night. What if it didn't actually happen? What if it was like last time? What if she cursed her mother to always have you-know-whats every time she told someone before it was absolutely positive the you-know-what wasn't going to happen?!

But then again . . . she was being silly. Meg was her best friend. She always seemed to tell Riley the minute she found out _her_ mother was going to have a baby, so why shouldn't Riley do the same?

"Come on, Riley," said Meg. "You know you can tell me anything."

Riley took a deep breath. People were still filing into the classroom, but soon, she would lose her chance to talk to Meg until later—class would be starting very, very soon. It was now or never.

"Well . . ." she started.

"Yeeeees?" Meg said expectantly.

"Well . . . so you know the thing I told you the other night?" said Riley. "When we came over to get together for s'mores and stuff?"

Meg nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Well . . . now I don't have to feel that way anymore," said Riley.

Meg cocked her head. "What'cha mean?"

"I mean . . . Meg—my mom's—my mom's gonna—"

"YOUR MOM'S GONNA HAVE A BABY!" shouted Meg.

The students all looked at them. Riley felt her face heat up a bit.

"Your mom's gonna have a baby!" Meg repeated—this time in a much quieter voice.

Riley nodded. She was beaming. The other students had gone back to their own business—except for one.

"That's so awesome!" Meg said with glee. "I'm guessing they just told you last night, huh? You're a lot more cheerful than usual."

Riley giggled. "Uh-huh. I just . . . I can't believe it . . . it's so unreal."

"I know, right?" said Meg. "But I guess you sort of get used to the news at the fifth time."

"Yeah . . ." said Riley absently.

"So, your mom's pregnant too, huh?" said a voice from behind them.

Riley turned around.

"Oh, hi, Jemma," she said in a somewhat resigned tone of voice. This was not a person she wanted to talk to about her new fortunes.

"Hey, Riley," said Jemma. "So you're gonna be a big sissie, now, huh?" she continued.

"Yeah," said Riley.

"Cool," said Jemma. She nodded at her. Then she said, "Have fun with it."

"I—I will," said Riley. Jemma was making her a little uneasy right now.

"Sorry again about the hockey incident," said Jemma. "Must've _slipped_." She then turned away, back to her table, leaving Riley to wonder what in the world was going on with her.

"Well . . ." said Meg after a few moments of silence, "come on. Class is starting."

Riley shook her head to clear it. What was up with Jemma? And why had she just given her a look that very clearly had loathing etched in every tiny little corner of her face?


	11. Chapter 11: Names

**A/N: Sup. Here's a new chapter . . . obviously. Sorry it's kinda short. I have limited time, so I didn't read through and edit it, so sorry if there's anything weird. Enjoy! :)**

 **Oh, by the way, here's a shout-out to Guest (guest), InsideLove, Lord Darth Yoda (it's funny you mention that in your review, considering I have a friend who's writing a fanfic about a very much daughter-of-Draco-Malfoy character—and I'm writing a relating fanfic—though Jemma is not a Malfoy. Maybe I've read the books so much a character like that just instantly goes into my story without me realizing it) for reviewing! Thanks so much, you guys! :D**

 **Read on!**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

Names

After Riley and Meg got back into their consecutive front yards from school later that afternoon, Riley started walking to her front door before Meg suggested that they do their homework together. Riley said she'd better go tell her parents, and so she and Meg parted ways for the time being.

When she entered the house, Riley had the feeling of loneliness typically found when she was alone somewhere. She walked over to the kitchen for an apple and noticed a piece of paper on the table. She picked it up. It read that her father was at work, having found out that he had been able to get a job very early that morning, and hadn't been able to talk to her about it. Her mother was off buying groceries.

Riley figured that she'd be allowed to go study with Meg, so she threw the note from her parents away and wrote her own, telling them where she was in case one—or both—of them got back home before she did. Then she grabbed her apple, took out her cat book, and strolled into the living room. She plopped down on the couch and chewed the apple slowly, reading her book, giving herself a little alone time to think before doing homework with Meg.

She hadn't talked at all with Jemma for the rest of the day at school—though she had seen her chatting with a group of kids by the lockers while Riley was on her way to history. She'd been thoroughly confused and slightly worried after that conversation. She's be trying out for hockey again today, so she's see Jemma there, and she was wondering how that would go. Riley was now almost certain that that hockey puck had not hit her face on accident—it just—it just didn't _seem_ like it. Jemma was acting weird—for sure.

Riley sighed. Why had she had such a . . . an odd look in her eyes when she'd heard that Riley's mom was expecting a baby? Was it . . . could it have been . . . jealousy? But how could that have worked—Jemma's mother was pregnant, too. Oh, it was all so confusing!

Riley sighed as she bit off the remaining bits of fruit from her apple. She stood up from the sofa and went back into the kitchen, threw the core away, and washed her hands. She grabbed her backpack before walking out the door, taking the key she always had with her along with her and locking it before heading out.

"Hi, Ri!" giggled the sweet voices of Emmie and Peyton Harper, Meg's younger twin sisters, after having opened the front door of their house.

Riley smiled. "Hey, guys. Do you know where Meg is?"

"Sure!" said Emmie.

"We'll go get her," added Peyton.

They ran off, and Riley stood there for a moment, feeling slightly awkward. Then the twins came back, pulling their older sister behind them.

"We got 'er for you!" exclaimed Peyton.

"Great," said Riley.

"Ready to study?" asked Meg.

Riley nodded. "Yup."

"All right, come on in, then," said Meg.

Riley stepped inside the house and looked around. It was still a little strange to be in here. Her father losing his job in San Francisco so suddenly, and having to move back here, was so surprising and quick, and she felt like it had been forever since she'd been here.

Meg led Riley into the living room. The twins trailed behind them. They all plopped down onto the couch as one.

Meg pulled her books out of her red backpack, which clashed magnificently with her hair, before noticing Peyton and Emmie.

"Hey," she said in a somewhat annoyed voice. "Shoo."

Giggling, the two little girls sped off out of the room, into the hallway where the bedrooms were.

Riley smiled. Who cared what was up with Jemma? Soon, she'd be able to do the exact same thing with her own little brother or sister.

As Riley unzipped her backpack, Meg plopped her chemistry workbook onto her lap, stared at it for a second, and then said, "I don't feel like doing this right now. We have more important things to do."

Riley raised her eyebrows, setting her schoolbooks and pencil on the glass coffee table in front of them. "Like?" she said.

"Like thinking of names for your new sibling," said Meg.

Riley cocked her head.

"Oh, come on!" said Meg. "You know you wanna do it."

Meg looked at Riley for a second. Riley looked right back at Meg. Then she grinned.

"Yes," she said.

"Great!" exclaimed Meg. She instantly whipped a pink spiral notebook out of her backpack, grabbed Riley's pencil, and turned to a blank page before scribbling "Names for Riley's Baby Brother or Sister" at the top.

"Besides, this'll be _much_ more important than stinking chemistry," Meg was saying. "It'll last a lot longer, you know."

Riley grinned, nodding.

"Okay," said Meg. She stared at the notebook for a moment. There was silence. Then she turned to Riley. "Got any ideas for names?" she asked uncertainly.

"Hmm," said Riley. She stroked her chin. What was a good name?

She heard scribbling and looked down at the notebook Meg had in her lap.

"What are you doing?" she asked bemusedly.

"Writing down the name," replied Meg.

"'Hmm' is not a name," said Riley.

"You said 'Hmm,' so I'm writing down 'Hmm.'" Meg shrugged. "Simple math, really."

"No, it isn't," said Riley. "'Hmm' is not a name," she repeated.

"Whatever. Can you think of anything that is?" said Meg.

"Boy or girl names?" said Riley.

Meg shrugged. "Both."

"Okay. . . ." Riley paused, scratching her head. Her mind was blank. "How about . . . how about _you_ say a name?"

Meg shook her head. "This is _your_ new sibling, not mine. You need to think of the names."

Riley sighed dramatically. Meg laughed.

"All right, then," said Meg. "How about . . . Riley Jr."

"It's not my baby, you know," said Riley.

"Megan Jr.?" suggested Meg.

"Not yours, either," said Riley.

"How about. . . ."

Meg's trailing words were interrupted by the sound of a baby crying, followed by the words, "Oh, Ethan, sweetheart, it's okay, you're fine, baby."

Meg turned to Riley. "How about Ethan?" she asked.

Riley gave her a look.

"Oh, fine!" said Meg dramatically. She flopped her back onto the couch. "Susan! Lucy! Peter! Edmund! Harry! Ronald! Her-mi-on-e!"

Riley burst out laughing. "Yeah, those'll totally do," she said sarcastically.

"Well, what, then?" exclaimed Meg. "You know, this is not my little sibling, it's yours, you know, so you better start thinkin', because nine months can go by reeeeeeally fast!"

Riley was howling with laughter. "All right, all right, all right, I'll start being serious!"

"Black?" said Meg skeptically.

"White," said Riley seriously.

"Brown," said Meg.

"Beige," added Riley.

"Blwhbreige!" exclaimed Meg.

They both fell into a fit of giggles, and were like that for a while. They were interrupted by soft footsteps, the sound of whining, and a familiar voice.

"Hey—girls?"

They both looked up. Meg's mother was standing in the room, a fussing baby Ethan in her arms.

"Yeah?" they said at the same time.

"Would you mind looking after Ethan for a little while?" Mrs. Harper asked uncertainly. "Only I have to make a phone call, and he's not . . . cooperating."

Meg jumped up at once. "Sure thing, Mom!" She ran over to her mother, who carefully set the fussy baby into her eldest daughter's arms.

"Thank you so much," she said, pulling a phone out of her pocket. "It'll only be for a minute, and then you can get back to your studying." She gave them a quick smile before exiting into the hallway.

Meg walked over to Riley and sat down next to her.

"Here you go," she said, gently lowering Ethan into Riley's arms.

Riley looked at her uncertainly.

"Oh, don't worry," said Meg. "You need some practice, anyways. You know." She grinned at her.

Riley gave a small smile back, before she turned to stare down at the little baby boy.

He had stopped fussing a bit, and now was only making little whimpering noises. A few moments later, they stopped all together as Riley gently rocked the little boy, staring into his deep brown eyes, stroking the yellow fuzz at the top of his head. It seemed he would be the only blond Harper child.

"Oh, look at that . . ." said Meg in a soft voice. "You've calmed him already. You're so good with babies!"

Riley smiled, not taking her eyes off of Ethan. "I only learn from the best."

Meg giggled.

They talked a little while they waited for Mrs. Harper to get off the phone—or at least Meg did. Riley stayed mostly silent, soaking herself in those beautiful brown eyes. Only when she heard Mrs. Harper walk into the room did she look up, still stroking the blond fuzz.

Meg's mother smiled when she saw the two girls. "Hi. Thank you so much for taking care of Ethan for me. I'm sorry that took so long." She walked over to them and bent down to lift the baby out of Riley's arms.

Riley nodded. "It was fine. More than fine, actually." She grinned. "Oh, he's such a sweetheart!"

Mrs. Harper smiled as she looked down at her youngest son. "Yes, he is. And you've calmed him right down, too! You're a natural. You would be a great sister." She looked up suddenly and looked anxious. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad," she said hastily. "What with . . . you know. . . ."

Riley exchanged a knowing look with Meg before turning back to Mrs. Harper. "Oh, no, it's fine, Mrs. Harper."

The woman still looked concerned. "Are you sure? I shouldn't have brought anything up at all . . . I'm sorry. . . ."

Riley waved her off. "It's fine, really."

Mrs. Harper looked relieved. "Oh, good." She paused. "Well, then, you two had better get back to your schoolwork there." She gestured towards the coffee table. "I'd better get this little one to sleep. Good bye." With that, she turned around and went back into the hallway.

Once she was gone, Riley and Meg turned to look at each other. They giggled.

"Guess she doesn't know anything yet," said Meg.

Riley nodded. "Yeah."

"Sorry if that made you uncomfortable," said Meg in a somewhat small voice.

Riley shrugged. "It's fine. Really."

Meg nodded. She then started staring off into space for a few moments.

Riley, not looking at her friend, took the notebook back off of the table, along with the pencil, and wrote something quick down on it, right below the title Meg had scribbled just minutes ago.

Meg was snapped out of her reverie after the scribbling stopped. She shook her head to clear it, and then turned around to look at Riley.

"So, wanna get started on that homework, then?" she asked. "We've got some chemistry stuff to do!"

Riley nodded absently, and started writing something else down on the paper.

"Got a brainwave?" asked Meg.

Riley nod-shrugged (basically tilting her head to the side a bit and shrugging).

"Can I see?" said Meg, leaning over to look at the paper.

Riley nodded, and, after adding a final flourish to the paper, she showed what she had written to Meg.

On the paper, surrounded by a few doodles of flowers, was the name "Daisy."

Meg grinned and looked up at Riley.

"What if it's a boy?" she asked.

Riley smiled. "It won't be."

Meg's grin got even bigger.


	12. Chapter 12: Girl or Boy?

**A/N: I AM NOT DEAD! YOU MAY HAVE THOUGHT I WAS DEAD OR SOMETHING REALLY, REALLY BAD LIKE THAT, BUT REST ASSURED, PEOPLE, THAT I AM NOT DEAD!**

 **Sorry about that, I just had to do that. :P Anyways . . . I'm back, people! Sorry about the long, long wait. I was doing a NaNoWriMo story, and things got busy. But I had the chance to write this, so here I am! :D Yeah, this is a really short chapter, but I didn't want it to drag . . . like some of my other chapters may have . . . ehe. . . .**

 **So I'd like to thank Degama for favoriting, Degama and** **Me Llamo Berry for following, and InsideLove, gamby004, Something funny (guest), and Harmony Avery for reviewing. You guys are awesome! :D**

 **Anyways, this chappie ends with a cliffhanger. MUWAHAHAHA! Hopefully I'll be able to post more soon. But until then. . . .**

 **READ ON!**

* * *

Chapter Twelve

Girl or Boy?

Today was a big, big day. Today, Riley would find something out, something she had seemed to be waiting for her entire life.

Today, she was going to find out whether she was going to be the big sister to a baby sister or brother.

A few weeks ago, Riley _had_ had a sort of certainty that it would be a girl, but now she wasn't so sure. They had gone by in a blur. She'd done hockey tryouts again without interference by Jemma or anyone else, had lots of practices, gone to school and realized just how hard it was getting, and all the while, her excitement about the fact that she was going to be an older sister was growing inside her.

However, doubts had nipped her every so often, as doubts always do. What if Riley wasn't a good enough sister? What if she couldn't handle being one? What if her baby brother or sister was very, very rude and not sweet at all?

She tried to tell herself that it would be fine, that she was being just plain silly.

But there was still the question that bothered her the most of all, that which asked whether or not she would ever actually get the brother or sister she craved so much.

What if something went wrong? What if . . . what if it was like last time? What if it didn't actually happen?

Riley tried to console herself. It had been earlier in her mother's pregnancy the first time that she had lost the baby . . . this time would be different . . . right?

She shook her head. She needed to get going with the task at hand—which was to finish a history book on World War II by tomorrow. Riley had been assigned the book this Monday. However, it was already Thursday, and she'd been so busy with hockey and her other school assignments and reading the third series in the cat story (there were multiple series) that she was only halfway through. So she'd decided to bring this book in the car with her instead of her cat book.

But Riley couldn't concentrate. Today she'd find out the gender of her little sibling.

She sighed, placing her blue strip of paper, which she used as a bookmark, into the book. She shut it and set it in her lap, staring out of the window. What would it be like? She'd never been to one of these. Riley and her parents were going together, since her father still hadn't been able to get a permanent job and neither had her mother—of course, her mother had to go. She was the one carrying the baby, after all.

Riley's heart skipped a beat. The doctor's office was just in sight—they were driving into the parking lot—and they had come to a stop right in front of the large glass doors.

She wrenched the door of the car open and leaped outside. A beam had spread across her face as she stared at the large building in front of her.

Everything seemed to be going right today. School hadn't been dreadful, Riley had hockey practice later tonight, she was back in Minnesota, and she was going to be a big sister very soon—well, in several months, at least. She sighed contentedly. Nothing could go wrong today.

But Jemma was still acting strange.

Riley's smile faded as she thought of the blond girl. Jemma hadn't physically hurt her at all the past several weeks, but she had thrown dark, meaningful looks at her. She'd made comments about babies and boys and hockey that unnerved Riley. She was confused as to what Jemma had meant when she mentioned boys in particular—what was wrong with them? Nothing boy-related had occurred between the two girls.

Riley shook her head. She couldn't let that girl from school bother her now.

In just minutes, she knew that she would be the happiest girl in the world.

* * *

Riley held her breath as she watched the alien-like figure lying curled-up on the gray and white screen. It was just so . . . tiny. It seemed impossible that that thing was growing inside of her mother.

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson," said the doctor that had helped them in the room from behind her clipboard, "it looks like you have a healthily growing baby despite your age, Mrs. Anderson." She smiled at them and their daughter.

Riley's parents' expressions both turned to relief, though Riley knew that they had been trying their hardest not to look worried.

"Oh, thank you," said her mother. She was smiling.

"No problem," said the dark-skinned doctor. "Now, you wanted the gender. Well. . . ." She gave an even larger smile. "It looks like you'll be having another girl."

Riley looked up from the screen. She was going to have a little sister?!

Her parents both looked the happiest they had been in days—Mrs. Anderson especially; she'd gotten rather sick as of late, and had not been happy about it.

"Really?!" Riley choked out. She found it was very hard to speak. Her throat seemed constricted.

The doctor nodded, still smiling. "Yes, a healthy little girl. Now, Mrs. Anderson, as long as you just keep yourself healthy and rest a lot, you and the baby should be just fine."

Riley's mother's eyes sparkled. "Thank you so much."

"It's no problem," said the doctor.

They began discussing things that did not interest Riley very much. Then it was time to leave.

It seemed that Riley was floating as she followed her parents back to the car. She was going to have a little sister. It just seemed so perfect.

"So, any new ideas for names?"

Riley looked over at her father, who was currently driving, from her gaze out the window. She hadn't even noticed the silence.

"Well, no we know exactly what kind of them to look for," said her mother from her seat next to him up front.

"Yep," said Mr. Anderson. "Narrowed it down by fifty percent."

"Now we just have to narrow it down to about point zero one percent," said his wife. They both chuckled, and Riley gave a small laugh.

"You haven't said much in the last few minutes, Riley. Something on your mind?" said her father.

"Nothing," said Riley. She sighed.

"Okay," said her father. "So, any ideas for names? You know, I've always liked Beatrice."

"We are not naming our child after your grandmother, Jack," said Mrs. Anderson. "I love her, but I really just don't care for the name Beatrice."

"Fine, then," said Mr. Anderson. "How about . . . Lea?"

"Not me, either," said his wife. Riley could tell that she was smiling.

"Any suggestions, Monkey?" said her father.

"Well . . ." said Riley. She hadn't yet told them the name she'd decided on back at Meg's house weeks ago. "What about . . . Daisy?"

There was a pause. The car stopped at a red light, and Riley's parents exchanged brief looks.

"What?" asked Riley curiously.

"That—" Lea took a breath. She sounded like she was choking up. "We were thinking of naming your other little brother or sister that."

Riley felt like something had hit her. She had never known this.

"Oh," she said.

"Oh, it's an absolutely wonderful name!" said her mother hurriedly. "It just brings back memories that I. . . ." She stopped, not able to finish.

"That you didn't want to come back?" Riley suggested.

Her mother turned around to look at her and nodded.

"But . . ." she said hesitantly. "We'll . . . think about it, okay?"

Riley nodded. "Okay."

There was silence. The car started moving again.

Riley turned to look out of the window. Maybe she shouldn't have suggested the name at all. . . . But she hadn't known it would bring such pain to her mother, such tears to her eyes, or that sinking feeling in the pit of Riley's stomach.

A split second later, she heard the sound of tires sliding along the ground to a sharp stop, a loud thump, and felt an unimaginable pain on her head—

And then everything went black.

* * *

 **Hey, guys. Guess what? The more you review, the sooner I'll post again.**

 **-MagicFireTiger**

 **P.S. Just saying.**


	13. Chapter 13: Not Possible

**A/N: Hey, guys! I'm back with another chapter—as promised! :) So here is the big revelation. . . .**

 **Is Riley alive . . . or not?**

 **Well, you'll just have to read on and see, now, won't you?**

 **But before we get to that . . . I'd like to thank InsideLove, Kiki Anderson,** **Korrasami 88** **, five different guests under the name "Guest", IHATEHANS9987 (guest), ElsaIsPissed (guest), and Hater (guest) for reviewing. You guys are awesome! :D**

 **Remember—the more reviews—the sooner I post! (As of this, a not so crazy, week.)**

Chapter Thirteen

Not Possible

Meg Harper looked down fondly at her little brother as he slept in his cradle. She had just been instructed to put him to his afternoon nap by her mother, who was now taking a phone call. Meg had wondered what the phone call was about, but decided not to ask about it, otherwise she might not have been given the chance to cuddle her little brother until he fell asleep.

Sighing happily, Meg pulled a stray strand of curly red hair behind her ear, shoved her glasses up her nose, and began walking out of her parents' (and Ethan's) bedroom. She hummed as she walked into the small hallway where all the doors to the many bedrooms were situated, then out into the kitchen, where her mother was standing at the counter. Her face was pale and her mouth was open slightly, turning downwards a little. She looked scared.

Meg's eyebrows scrunched together. "What's up, Mom?" she asked. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Meg—it's Riley," said her mother. Meg was shocked to find that Mrs. Harper's voice was shaking.

"What's wrong?" she said, hurrying up to her.

"Riley's family just got into a car accident," said her mother in an attempt at calmness, but her face looked scared. "Apparently a twelve-year-old girl was driving a bunch of friends to a party. The girl didn't make it."

Meg's heart skipped a beat. "What about Riley?!" she exclaimed.

"She and her parents were sent to the hospital," said Mrs. Harper. Her eyes started to fill with tears. "Jack was the one that called me. His right arm is broken, and his hands got burned by the friction, but other than that, he's fine."

"What about Lea? What about _Riley_?!" Meg almost shouted the words.

"Lea . . . Meg . . . it turns out she was pregnant," her mother replied. Tears were slipping down her white cheeks fast.

"It—Riley told me weeks ago," said Meg.

Mrs. Harper nodded slightly. "I had suspicions. Illness, and slight puffiness. Symptoms that I had with all of you."

"But—what about her?"

"She . . . it also turns out that . . . well. . . ." Meg's mother took a deep breath. "A couple months ago, she and Jack confided in your father and me that she had gotten cancer. They thought they'd gotten rid of it, but it came back. A little while ago, actually."

"But—what does that have to do with the car accident?!" Meg spit out.

Her mother looked at her sadly. "They found out about the cancer at the hospital. And Lea . . . she's in a coma."

Meg's eyes widened. What? Riley's mother was in a coma? That couldn't be happening . . . that couldn't be _possible_. . . .

The woman that had turned into a sort of second mother to her years ago was now unresponsive to everything going on around her.

"What about Riley?!" she exclaimed.

"Riley . . . she's in a coma, too," said her mother.

 _NO!_ screamed some tiny little voice inside Meg's head. No! This couldn't be happening. . . . Meg wanted to cry out, hit something, hold something, do anything to keep this terrible thing from reaching inside her soul, torturing her, keeping her with a heart so frozen with grief that it was going numb. . . .

But at least she wasn't dead. . . .

Meg looked up into her mother's brown eyes, and suddenly, she was crying, weeping, collapsing into her mother's arms, and she felt wet splatters fall into her hair, probably from the person in whose arms she was now wrapped so, so tightly. . . .

And then, looking back upon what her mother had just said, Meg realized something. . . .

"You . . . you said that Lea _was_ pregnant," she said slowly. "What . . . what do you mean . . . _was_?"

Her mother looked down at her, and tears started falling so thick and fast from her eyes that Meg wondered how it was possible for her to see.

"Meg . . ." she said slowly, tremulously. "Riley's mother lost the baby."

Silence. There was that one moment of total, impenetrable, complete silence, that one moment that seemed to last a million, that was so loud it was like the bang of the loudest volcano's eruption in the world. . . .

Without thinking about it, Meg was sobbing even harder into her mother's chest, and it was like it was raining hard onto her head. She knew how much Riley had wanted that little brother or sister. It was just—not—fair!

This had happened to her best friend in the world. How was it even possible? How was it possible that Meg could even feel anything at this point? Her heart was so numb . . . she thought she wouldn't be able to feel. . . .

But it was just ten times worse than when her heart was not.

After what seemed like hours, or maybe it was just seconds, Meg pulled back gently from her mother.

"Can we go see them?" she asked tentatively.

Her mother looked at her for a moment, and then said in a soft voice, "Yes, I think we can."

"Good," said Meg. She took a shaky breath.

"I'll go tell the others," said her mother.

Meg nodded silently, and then wandered off to the couch, where she plopped herself down and grabbed the first thing she could see, which was a book from the coffee table. She opened it to a page at random and started reading. It was a long book, one that she'd read several times. It spoke plainly of loss and mourning, but at the end of it, there was a bright light of sunshine that made her heart ache, laugh, and soar at the exact same time.

She read, and after a while, she heard footsteps from the hallway. Her little sisters and brothers were coming out from it, led by her mother.

Meg looked up. "Hi," she said.

"Riley got hurt?" asked Emmie. Her voice was surprisingly timid.

Meg nodded. She was surprised to find that her eyes were dry. "Yeah, she did."

"And her ma and pa, too?" said Peyton.

"Yes."

"Are they gonna be okay?" said Daniel, crawling over to them.

"I—" There was a split second in which Meg had a choice. She could tell them everything, tell them that there might not be any hope left for her best friend and best friend's mother, or she could give them a small ray of hope that she so sorely wished she could have.

"Yes, Daniel. They will be just fine," was what Meg finally said.

All of her little siblings—ten-year-old Daniel, nine-year-old Anthony—six-year-old Emmie and Peyton—looked up at her from their spots on the couch, where they had snuggled up next to her, and their faces showed hope. They were bright and happy, as though they knew everything would turn out okay.

As it turned out, that was exactly what they were thinking.

"It'll be okay, then, Meg," said Peyton. She gave her older sister a hug.

And then Meg did the one thing she thought she would not be able to ever do again—unless Riley and her mother woke up from their comas.

She smiled.

"Thank you, guys," she said. Her voice quivered a little. "Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome!" said Peyton and Emmie at the same time. They giggled.

Meg looked up at her mother. She was staring at Meg. Tears glistened in her eyes.

"Shall we go now?" said Meg.

Her mother gave a tight-lipped smile.

"We shall."


	14. Chapter 14: Not as Much Pain

**A/N: Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper sorry for not updating in forever. Dis is pretty much just a filler chapter. You will probably feel relieved when you read some of the information relayed in it.**

 **So . . . here's a HUGE thank you to the following people (by the way, if you didn't follow, favorite, or review, you can just skip all the rest of the stuff in bold):**

 **frustratedscientist94, kadienewberg, 75Check75, Harrypottercatlover, and HazeHero for favoriting;**

 **frustratedscientist94, Harrypottercatlover, Athena-lighting123, and HazeHero for following;**

 **and, finally (I'm also replying to these) . . .**

 **Lord Darth Yoda: Thank you for the review. I have thought about what you said, which lead me to some decisions in this chapter. I may change things up in the previous one. Your insight is awesome and I appreciate that. :)**

 **Kiki Anderson: Yes, you definitely made me laugh. I am soooooooooooooooooo sorry for not updating in forever. But now I have. So there! :P**

 **Guest Number One: Well . . . you'll just have to wait and see what I do, now, won't you? *evil laughter***

 **IHATEHANS9987: Yeah, well . . . had to be done for certain reasons. By the way . . . actually, never mind, just read.**

 **Guest Number Two: Yes, that could work, but I do have something else in mind. I may add a scene like that in there. And yes, I do take requests. Whatever ideas you have for me, let me know and I'll consider them! :) Thanks for your input.**

 **Guest Number Three: Let's hope you're not dead yet. :P**

 **Guest Number Four: Just read.**

 **Guest Number Five: Why, thank you. And . . . obviously . . . I have posted more! :P**

 **Korrasami 88: Youuuuuuuuuuuuu'll see. *maniacal evil laughter***

 **Thanks for reviewing! :D Happy Christmas Eve!**

 **Enjoy!**

Chapter Fourteen

Not as Much Pain

"Come on, come on, come on . . ." Meg muttered. She was trying to walk quickly through the hospital; at the same time, she was trying to do the opposite, as the place was quiet and she didn't feel it would be pleasant for either the patients or the nurses and doctors if the silence was broken.

Also, Emmie and Peyton were fidgety and seemed like they were about to run. Meg wanted to tell them off, but then . . . wouldn't that be sort of . . . hypocritical? She wished she could run as much as they did. . . .

Probably more, actually.

"Room B Seven, room B Seven. . . ." Her mother was muttering, too.

"Room B Seven!" exclaimed Anthony.

Meg stopped in her tracks. She hadn't realized she'd been in front of them until she'd stopped in front of the door behind which who knew held what fears would awaken in her.

"Room B Seven," she said quietly to herself.

They'd all stopped walking and were now staring at the door. After a long pause, Mrs. Harper spoke.

"Well . . . we'd better get in there then," she said.

Meg nodded silently and turned the shiny golden handle before pushing the door open and stepping inside.

The sight in front of her seemed to make her heart stop. Riley was lying in the bed in front of her, hooked up to wires and everything you could think of. Her eyes were closed. She looked peaceful, but the sight did not bring Meg Harper peace.

Quite the opposite, really.

"Amy?"

Meg hadn't noticed that Mr. Anderson had been sitting in a chair next to Riley's bed. His face had been in his hands. Now it was up and looking intently at them all.

"Jack," said Mrs. Harper. She walked over to him and sat down beside him. She put a hand on his.

"Amy," Mr. Anderson said weakly.

"Eli is on his way from work," said Meg's mother. "When he heard the news, he . . . just dropped everything."

"He knows what's important," piped up Daniel.

His mother gave her oldest son a small smile.

"Yes, he does," she said.

"H-how is she?" asked Meg suddenly. Her voice came out cracked and small, as though she had not used it for years and years and years.

It felt that way, anyway.

Jack Anderson gave a weak smile. "She's. . . ." He sniffed. "She's in a coma, so. . . ."

"There's been no developments, if that's what you're asking," said the nurse standing in the room. Meg hadn't even noticed her. "She isn't any worse than she was before, but she isn't getting any better. She'd stable, in other words."

Meg nodded.

"What about Lea?" Meg's mother inquired suddenly.

"She's in another room," Jack replied. "She's. . . ." His eyes suddenly filled up with tears. "She's . . . I don't know what she is anymore." He buried his face in his hands.

There was silence in the room.

"Footsteps!" Peyton suddenly exclaimed.

Meg turned away from her gaze at Riley. Indeed, footsteps could be heard from outside in the hallways. And they were fast.

Suddenly, the door flew open, and in the room burst the figure of a white coat-clad woman. Meg quickly assumed that she was a doctor or nurse.

"She's out of her coma!" the woman exclaimed. She hung onto the door, panting.

Jack leapt up from his seat. "Lea? She's out of the coma?!"

Meg felt her heart leap. Something was going okay.

"Yes!" the woman replied. "Yes, she's out of the coma, and what's more, we think —" She paused, gasping for breath. "Well, you'll just have to see for yourself. She gave a smile and then exited the room.

Jack hurried after her, and so did Meg and her siblings and mother. They entered a room a little farther on. In lay Lea Anderson. She looked so weak, almost as much as Riley.

But, unlike Riley, Lea was awake.

Her lips split into a smile as her husband and friend entered the room. "Jack," she said in a tiny, raspy voice.

"Lea." Jack leaned down and placed a firm kiss on his wife's lips. He pulled back, smiling.

"Mr. Anderson, come over here," called the doctor that had brought them from Riley's room into this one. She was standing by a sort of television, on which something very familiar to Meg was.

Jack scrambled clumsily over to the doctor and stared at the screen. Then he turned to the woman beside him.

"What — what does it mean?" he said. His voice cracked.

"It means that your wife was pregnant with twins," said the doctor. "One of them died. At the ultrasound you were at earlier, it was blocking the other twin, so you only saw that one." She paused. "You know we had to take the dead baby out. After that was when we realized that there were two of them."

Everyone gaped at her.

"So . . . Riley's going to have a little sister then?" asked Meg timidly.

"Brother," corrected the doctor. "The girl passed away during the accident. But only if he survives Mrs. Anderson's pregnancy. There are still several more months. We may have to take him out early if the cancer progresses."

Jack nodded silently before collapsing onto one of the chairs in the room.

"Jack . . . if this works out . . . you'll still have our little ones," said Lea suddenly.

Jack looked up. He was frowning.

"Lea . . . don't think like that," he said, walking over to her and touching her arm. "You'll get through this. I know it."

Lea gave a weak smile. "We'll see. But if it comes down to it . . . I want my little boy to live. Not me."

There was silence in the room.

Jack was the one to break it.

"Excuse me," he muttered. He left the room just as Lea fell asleep.

The next silence was broken by Meg, who said, "What about the girl? The one. . . ."

"The girl driving the car that caused the accident was killed in the crash," said the doctor. "She was driving three friends. They were all injured, but not fatally."

"Who was the girl?" asked Meg.

"A girl named Jemma Hartley," replied the doctor.

Jemma Hartley.

"I know that girl!" Meg exclaimed suddenly. "I mean, I—I _knew_ that girl . . . I. . . ."

Jemma Hartley. She hadn't really liked her, but she wouldn't have that that she would stoop _that_ low. . . .

"I need to go speak to her friends," she said.

"They're all injured. They need to rest," said the doctor.

"I need to talk with them," Meg protested.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow it."

"But. . . ."

"Meg . . . later," said her mother quietly, and Meg knew that this was the cue for silence.

She just wished it wasn't.


	15. Chapter 15: I'm Sorry

**A/N: Well. I don't think I've died. Or joined Riley in her coma state. Though it must feel that way to you guys; I haven't posted in months.**

 **Months.**

 **Well, I'll just cut to the chase: Math decided it wanted to get about ten times more confusing; I discovered this new website called "Wattpad;" and I guess I kind of got a case of writer's block.**

 **Here's a new chapter, anyway! I'll attempt to wrap this up over the summer.**

 **I'm just gonna skip all the thank yous and such and put them all in one huge snowball:**

 **THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE REVIEWED ON, FAVORITED, AND FOLLOWED THIS STORY! IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME!**

 **Okay, also, so you guys are aware, this is NOT THE FINAL DRAFT of this story. It will go through MAJOR editing to fix every single plot hole. To be honest, when I first saw the movie, my brain decided to be stupid and thought that Riley's family actually DID move back home (I mean . . . her parents were saying all those sad things to her . . . made her feel super sad . . . I dunno), which sort of inspired this partly. I might change things up and not have her move back, but in a way that the plot isn't majorly changed. Thank you all for understanding!**

 **Anyway, here's a new chapter. I hope you guys enjoy! And don't worry—the wait for the next one won't be nearly as long as this one you have patiently (more or less) undergone!**

 **Read on!**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

I'm Sorry

Something was strange. Was this what it was like to be in space? Riley wondered. Possibly. She appeared to be floating somewhere with a rather suspicious lack of gravity. It was rather dark, though there seemed to be an odd glow about the place. She felt that if she were to be in space, however, that there should be at least a few stars. Unless she was in some sort of strange black hole that just happened to have some sort of glowing light in it.

Wherever she was . . . she was scared.

She had absolutely no idea where she was. The last thing she had remembered was feeling very, very happy, then a sort of dropping sensation in her stomach, as though she had left it about an Olympic pool's length behind, and then pain, and then blackness. She wasn't sure how long that blackness had lasted; it was like she had been asleep. Sometimes it felt like it was only two seconds after you fell asleep if you woke up only a few hours later.

In this case, she was not quite sure of how long that "sleep" had been.

Riley wasn't quite sure of exactly how long she floated there, not feeling sleepy or hungry or even having the urge to relieve herself in the ladies' room, the last of which she was grateful for. Sometimes having to pee was a bit of a nuisance.

However, tears decided to escape her large eyes as she thought of the unknown fate of her parents and baby sibling.

At some point during her "space exploration" (as she had named it), she noticed something swirling far off into the distant, inky, strangely glowey blackness. The whirlpool thing grew larger, and as it did so, a sort of gravity began pulling her towards it. She struggled against it, but it was completely pointless, as she had nothing to hold her back. She scrunched her face as the swirl became the size of a football field. Some sort of light, brighter than the weird glow, brighter than the sun, bright enough that Riley felt she was going blind, appeared in the center.

And then, of course, Riley was sucked in.

The next thing she knew, she was in a really strange but also really adorable room.

And five really weird . . . _things_ all around her height were staring at her.

Both Riley and Anger let out the swear word they'd been egging to use for months at the exact same time.

* * *

Tom Beigh's face held no emotion. His insides weren't quite able to tell him what emotion to feel right now. His _friend_ had just died for gosh sake. How was he expected to feel about _that_?

As he watched the wooden box holding her body get lowered down into the deep hole surrounded by bright green grass, he thought back to that night—the one with the party. He should've gotten his older brother to do it for him, Jemma, and his friends . . . but Jemma had insisted. She'd been teaching herself how to drive for months now, and thought she'd give it a go. Why not?

Could've saved her life.

Could've saved a lot of pain.

Could've saved Tom's numb insides.

He reflected upon the news that had been relayed to him the morning after the incident. He'd woken up in an unfamiliar place—a hospital. Tom had wondered why he was there for a few moments. Then things had filtered back into his head.

The party.

Jemma.

The crash.

He'd been told that (thanks to his and his friends' recklessness), Jemma had died. So had an unborn baby.

A girl he vaguely knew from school—Riley—had been in the car Jemma's parents' car had slammed into. So had her parents. She and her mom were now very, very injured. Her dad seemed okay. He'd seen the man, Jack, in the hospital cafeteria later.

But not the Anderson girls.

He felt a pang in his stomach. Riley was too . . . nice to be in a coma.

So was her mother, he expected.

Tom glanced over across the grave to a familiar face he noticed far off into the distance. It was framed by a puff of frizzy red hair. Glasses were set atop a tiny nose.

That was . . . that was Meg. Riley's best friend.

Meg stood there until the service ended. People were moving around, speaking softly. Tom wound his way around them and jumped over and around graves as though if he set even a hair on them, a bomb would blow up, leaving him in a million pieces. He stopped in front of the redhead, panting slightly.

Meg cleared her throat and stood herself up a little straighter. "Thomas."

"It's . . . just Tom." Tom scratched the back of his neck. He didn't like it when people called him Thomas.

Meg just nodded slightly, lips tight. They stood there awkwardly for several uncertain moments. Then the girl broke it.

"I'm . . . sorry."

Tom grunted. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault." He spoke like he was starting to get a head cold. Maybe he was. He didn't know what he was feeling right now.

Meg shrugged. She looked down at her feet, and then back up at him. "Riley's . . . uh . . . in a coma." Tom almost couldn't hear the last part.

But he did. He nodded, almost indistinguishably. "Yeah. I know."

"Don't say you're sorry," Meg said. "It wasn't your fault either."

Tom felt his face heat up. "Yeah, it was. I could've stopped Jemma from deciding to drive without a license."

"No, you couldn't have," said Meg. "She's too stubborn. And mean."

Tom scrunched up his eyebrows. "Mean?"

Meg stared coldly at him. "Blind, much?"

"What do you—?"

"Never mind," Meg interrupted him, shaking her head. "Just . . . let's . . . go out of this not as enemies, okay?"

Tom stared at her for a moment. Then he nodded slowly. "Okay," he said.

Meg nodded, too. "Okay. I'll go now. My mom doesn't know where I am." She turned and started running off in the opposite direction but stopped and turned around when Tom called,

"Wait!"

"Yes?" Meg called to him.

"Just . . . I'm sorry." The boy swallowed.

Meg looked at him. Tom couldn't tell quite what her expression held. Then she nodded once more.

"It's okay."

Then she turned around again, and, moments later, had rounded the corner of a building, and was gone.

* * *

 **A/N: Review! Favorite! Follow! See ya soon!**

 **SUMMER AND FREEDOM!**

 **Bye!**


	16. Chapter 16: Inside Out

**A/N: THANK YOU FOR NOT ABANDONING ME AND THIS STORY! THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS AND FAVORITES AND FOLLOWS! HERE YA GO!**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

Inside Out

"THE WORD!" Joy and Fear shrieked at approximately the exact same moment about point five seconds after Riley and Anger had said "the word," Joy pointing at the latter and Fear with both hands over his mouth. A disgusted expression was on all of the emotions' faces, except for Sadness, who just looked, well, sad.

Riley herself was very, very shocked. So shocked that all she could say were whimpers.

After several seconds of this, Disgust slowly stepped up to her, carefully pressing her feet on the ground.

Then she hugged Riley so hard that the girl could barely breathe.

The other emotions all gasped. Disgust pulled back from Riley and turned to them.

"Guys," she said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "she needed a hug."

The others gasped again. Then Joy ran over to Riley, shouting, "I LOVE YOU, RILEY!", and jumped on her and hugged her in a hug that was, if possible, even tighter than Disgust's.

Then the other four emotions joined in. They all had absolutely no clue as to why Riley was here, but she was, and they had seen and heard and felt all of her pain from the last several months, of wanting that sibling so badly, and then the pain of the car crash.

But something was strange: Now, they couldn't see or hear or feel what she did, now they couldn't control her emotions at all.

But for just a moment, none of that mattered to them at all.

After several moments, they realized, however, that it was very peculiar that they were not seeing out of her eyes but instead seeing her, the same size as them. Then they realized that she probably thought that they were aliens or something, when in reality . . . they were inside her head.

Even that sounded a little alien.

They parted from her. Riley had her arms at her sides, her entire body stiff, her eyes as wide as saucers. She looked absolutely petrified.

"B-b-b-b-b-b—"

Joy interrupted her by jumping right in front of her and saying in a rushed and attempted happy tone, "Hi! I'm Joy, and I'm one of your five emotions! These are the headquarters of your mind." She beamed ate Riley, but it was a little . . . false.

The happiness emotion sort of gestured towards Anger, who was right behind her, whispering out of the corner of her mouth, "Yo, dirty-mouth."

Anger looked confused for a second. Then it appeared that he understood, and ran up next to Joy and announced with a rather serious expression on his face, "I am Anger." He attempted to bow, but nearly fell over, so settled for a handshake instead. Riley did not take the hand held out to her, but stared at it, jaw hanging open super wide.

There was a pause. Then Disgust rolled her eyes and stepped up to the other side of Joy. "Hi. I'm Disgust. I help keep you from getting poisoned by things like broccoli."

Riley just tilted her head to the side a little at that in slight comprehension, while in her mind . . . in her mind . . . not where she was standing right now . . . she was whooping with success at the fact that she had finally found out that broccoli actually did have poisonous properties and must never be devoured by any living being.

Fear came to Disgust's side next and announced a little shakily, "Um . . . hello . . . I'm . . . uh . . . Fear. . . ." He stopped talking, mouth clamped shut.

Sadness glanced around nervously, then turned to face Riley. "And I'm Sadness," she said at last.

Riley continued looking at them, totally lost and rather scared.

"Uh . . . like I said earlier . . . we're your emotions," Joy said after several moments of an awkward silence. "We . . . uh . . . well, at least we _used_ to be . . . um . . . inside your head. Um . . . that's where you are now." She gave an uncertain little laugh.

Disgust rolled her eyes again and continued, "We make you feel what you feel. Joy makes you feel happy—" Joy waved a small, hopeful little wave at that "—Sadness makes you feel sad, Anger keeps things fair for you and makes you angry, Fear keeps you save and makes you scared, and I keep you from being poisoned and make you feel disgusted at things."

Riley's eyes got even wider (if that was possible), and she sent her hands up to her head, running them through her hair. "EWE!"

The emotions all jumped at that.

"We're not gross!" Anger said indignantly.

"It's definitely not gross in here!" Fear exclaimed.

"It's grosser out there," Disgust muttered.

"It's actually really fun in here!" Joy added hopefully.

"If you think about it, it is a little weird . . ." Sadness said in a low voice.

"But everyone has us!" Anger said.

"WHAT?!" Riley shrieked.

"How do you know that?" Disgust asked Anger absently.

"One of those folder thingies," Anger said to her.

"Ooooh." Disgust nodded slowly.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Riley yelled, jumping as she said it.

"THE FOLDERS!" Joy said at almost the exact same time. "COME ON, GUYS!" She ran over to the folder section of the room, followed closely by everyone except for Sadness and Riley, who were practically left in dust.

The two looked at each other.

"Um . . . I know what's happening . . ." Sadness said in a low voice, lifting up a finger to the other emotions, but they ignored her. Riley just stared at Sadness, eyes still really, really wide.

"W- . . . what's g-going on?" Riley managed to squeak out.

"You . . . well. . . ." Sadness slowly stepped up to Riley and mumbled, "You're in a coma."

Riley's eyebrows appeared to shoot up into her yellow bangs. "I'M IN A COMA?!"

The other four emotions spun around on their heels at that, folders in their arms.

"RILEY'S IN A COMA?!" they all shrieked at approximately the exact same time.

Sadness nodded slowly. "Y-yes."

Joy, Anger, Fear, and Disgust darted to Sadness's feet and sat down cross-legged in front of her, staring up at her as though they were kindergartners about to get candy from someone at Halloween.

Sadness gulped. "Remember when I read all those books?" she asked.

The other emotions all nodded at her.

"I know what's wrong with Riley," Sadness continued.

She was stared at very attentively.

"She's in a coma . . . and . . . we're still in her head, but . . . whenever someone's in a coma . . . they meet their emotions in their head," Sadness explained.

"And?" Joy urged when Sadness hesitated.

"And since the puberty button was hit, Riley is still able to feel inside her head inside her head. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to feel anything in here. And she needs to get out of her head, otherwise she'll stay in the coma forever and she might even die!"

Everyone gasped and Sadness put a hand to her mouth, horrified at what she had said.

". . . . And?" said Anger in a surprisingly tentative voice.

"There is a way to get her out of the coma," said Sadness hesitatingly.

"HOW?!" everyone else (including Riley) exclaimed.

"There . . . I can't remember it completely, but . . . there are . . . puzzle pieces that you need to find. You need to piece together the puzzle of the cause of the coma, and then you need to create that into a memory in a special place . . . I can't . . . can't remember what it's called."

"Do you remember the folder you found it in?" Fear asked.

Sadness shook her head. "I can recognize the section if I see it, though. It might take a while, but. . . ."

"THEN FIND IT!" Disgust pushed Sadness towards the folder section, where the blue emotion nodded and began looking through the objects.

"So. . . ." Riley gulped. "So . . . you need to find puzzle pieces to get me out of here?"

The emotions (aside from Sadness) nodded.

"Can you . . . uh . . . explain . . . uh . . . _everything_?"

Joy, Anger, Disgust, and Fear all exchanged looks with each other, and then nodded as one.

"Yeah," said Joy. "We'll do that while we wait for Sadness.

"This might take a while."


	17. Chapter 17: Got It

**A/N: THANK YOU, SUMMER! YOU HAVE FREED UP MY TIME!**

 **Summer freedom is the reason I posted two days in a row.**

 **REVIEW! FAVORITE! FOLLOW! REVIEW AGAIN!**

 **THANK YOU!**

 **BYE!**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

Got It

Riley was in shock. I mean, who wouldn't be? The story she'd just been told was unbelievable; and yet, it had to be real. She was in the actual place this stuff had taken place—granted, this stuff had literally happened inside her head, but she hadn't known that then, had she?

"So . . . whoa. And . . . Bing Bong . . . Bing Bong . . . whoa."

Joy nodded. "Yeah." She looked sad. "And now . . . well . . . now that you remembered him, I thought that maybe he would come back, but. . . ."

"He's not coming back," Sadness said sadly as she walked over to them and plopped down beside them (they'd all sat down), folder in hand.

"You found it?" Fear asked tentatively, eyeing the folder.

Sadness nodded. She opened it up to a page near the end of it and read aloud, " _Comas_.

" ' _Occasionally, the following will happen to an unlucky person. After a traumatic experience, they will black out and find themselves drifting in space for a period of time before appearing in the headquarters of their mind, where they will meet their very own emotions.'_ Like what happened to you, Riley.

" ' _The only way to get out of the coma is to do the following:_

" ' _One: Clear the shock out of the person in the coma. They will be very confused._

" ' _Two: Read them aloud this section of this manual._ Like what I'm doing right now, see?

" ' _Three: Look for five missing puzzle pieces that fit together the picture that caused the person to get into a coma. The places to look are where the happiest, most disgusting, most anger-causing, saddest, and scariest memories are held._ Well, that's very vague, isn't it?

" ' _Four: Put the pieces together. The puzzle will glow and turn into a memory. The glow will lead you to the final destination, where the memory will get its color._

" ' _Five: Place the memory in the memory beam. Then, the person in the coma will get out of their coma._

" ' _Note: Make sure the person in the coma does not fade in the lost memory heap. This could be potentially catastrophic._

"That's where it ends. Mostly, I mean, there's some other stuff, but those are the intructions," Sadness finished, closing the manual.

The emotions and Riley all looked at each other. Joy and Sadness exchanged especially meaningful glances.

"We have to go back out there, don't we?" Joy said to Sadness. It wasn't as much of a question as a statement.

Sadness nodded dismally.

"But we've got everything under control! It's all been improved! It should be a breeze!" Joy gave a hearty laugh, though she seemed to be attempting to convince herself more than anyone else.

"As long as Riley doesn't fall into the memory pit thingymagig," said Disgust.

"As long as Riley doesn't fall into the memory pit thingymagig," Joy agreed.

The emotions all stood up, preparing themselves for something that seemed kind of impossible considering the section in the manual had been so vague, but determined anyways. However, Riley was still sitting on the ground, not quite sure of what to do.

"Riley?" Sadness sat back down next to her. "Are you okay?"

Riley shook her head slowly, looking at Sadness and hugging herself. "Not really. I still can't believe any of this is real."

"If it wasn't, nobody would be able to feel anything at all. Like disbelief," said Sadness.

Riley gave a small smile. "Or sadness. Or hope. Or longing. Or terror. Or happiness. Or such a need for a baby brother or sister that I just can't . . . can't . . . can't. . . ." Riley wasn't able to finish. She'd started sobbing and sobbing and sobbing so hard, it was like Sadness had possessed her, which she possibly kind of vaguely had in a way.

The emotion beside Riley wrapped her short arms around Riley, and Riley sobbed and sobbed and sobbed her eyes out into Sadness's chest. Sadness just sat there for her, not saying a word; she was just there, doing her job.

Being Sadness.

After a little while, Riley didn't have any tears left. She wiped her eyes on her arm and looked at Joy, who she had taken to be the leader of the group.

"Is there any way I can see what happened to the rest of my family?" she asked.

Joy started. "Um . . . I don't know. I don't think so. I don't know the manuals very well, like Sadness does, so. . . ."

Riley turned to the said emotion, who shook her head. "I don't think so, Riley. Maybe every now and then, but not much at all."

Riley nodded slowly. "Okay. As long as I get out of this all right, I can see what happened to them later." She took a shaky breath.

Joy smiled. "That's my girl."

Riley's lips turned up a little.

"And there's my Smiley Riley!" Joy beamed and wrapped her arms around the girl, who hugged back. Then they separated.

"Do we need food or anything?" Riley asked.

"Food? Nah," said Disgust.

"In minds, food isn't necessary," Fear added.

"Why not?" Riley said as they came to the door to exit the headquarters.

"In minds," said Joy, opening the door to reveal color nearly as bright as the sun, "amazing things happen."

* * *

"How is she?" Meg asked.

"Not any worse, but not any better either." Mr. Anderson sighed, rubbing his temple.

"How's Lea?" said Meg.

"They think the cancer's getting better. The baby's healthy."

"Have you thought of any names for him?"

"What?"

"Names," Meg said. "You know . . . like Bob, or Bil, or Dan, or you know . . . other three-letter names."

"Bill is spelled with two l's," said Jack.

"Not if you take one out."

Jack gave a tight-lipped smile. "Oh, Meg. You're still the same girl, aren't you?"

Meg smiled slightly, too. "Still am, Jack."

Jack sighed and looked at his daughter. She looked so peaceful, just lying there in the hospital bed. Tubes were attached to her, keeping her alive.

She was so frail that she had to depend on tubes and machines to keep her alive.

But at least she was still here.

Jack sighed again and turned away. He couldn't look at her. "I need to go get some air," he said to Meg.

The girl nodded. "Go on. You've been cooped up here forever."

Jack gave a tiny smile. "So have you."

"Yeah, but not as long as you. You, on the other hand, have been in this hospital for forever. Go get some air."

"I guess I will." Jack leaned down and hugged Meg, who hugged him back. She watched as he left the room before turning to Riley and plopping down on a chair next to her bed.

"Hey, Riley," she said. She knew her best friend couldn't hear her, but hey, she needed to talk to someone. Riley had always been there for her. Even if she couldn't talk back, she was still in there somewhere, possibly listening, wanting to reach out.

"If you're listening . . . Riley, your mom isn't too good. But she's getting better. You're gonna be a big sister real soon. You're gonna have a little brother. I know how much you wanted one."

Meg couldn't believe it, but a single tear was rolling down her right cheek.

"You should pick out the name. It's only fair. You'll wake up in time. Do that, and you name him, okay, Riley?"

Riley was unresponsive, as was predicted, but Meg couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Silly.

"Please wake up, Riley. We miss you."

Meg stood up and leaned over, placing a kiss on Riley's forehead. "Be my best sister friend again, please. Got it?"

In her mind, she imagined Riley smiling and nodding and replying happily, saying back, "Got it."

Got it.


	18. Chapter 18: Candy Llamas

**A/N: Okay . . . I haven't updated in forever . . . but please know that I won't permanently stop writing this story. :) I started it, and it's gonna get finished. Probably faster if I get more reviews ( _honestly, they lift me up so much, even if they're constructive criticism_ ). Thank you again if you're still with this story. :)**

 **-MagicFireTiger**

 **P.S. This chapter could be more edited. I apologize for any inconvenience.**

 **P.P.S. :)**

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

Candy Llamas and Fudge Llamas

"Right-O!" said Joy as she, Riley, and all the other emotions stepped out of Headquarters and onto the train station that led to the other places around Riley's mind. "Who should accompany Riley on this journey?"

"You and Sadness know this place better than any of us," Disgust pointed out.

"So . . . us, then?" Joy asked, turning to Sadness.

The blue emotion shrugged. "Sure."

"And we will stay back here at headquarters in case Riley wakes up," decided Fear.

"She won't wake up without the puzzle pieces, Fear," said Disgust.

"Will she?" Fear seemed like he was trying to worm out of possibly going on this journey.

Disgust rolled her eyes. "I say we all go. Joy and Sadness can lead."

"What do you think, Riley?" asked Anger, folding his stubby arms.

Everyone looked at her. Her eyes widened. "Me? Uh, I dunno. . . . All of us, I guess? I mean . . . the more of us, the safer, right?"

"Right," agreed Joy heartily. "Minds can get dangerous to be lost in."

"It has been fixed, though, right?"

Joy rolled her eyes. "Of course, Fear, but it's better safe than sorry, aye?" She started loping off to where the Train of Thought would arrive very soon (as far as she hoped . . .), swinging her arms.

The others exchanged looks with one another before shrugging simultaneously and following after the yellow emotion.

Evidently, sometimes trains of thought liked to be slow, because even though Riley was not doing math at the current moment, the Train of Thought itself did not arrive for at least another hour, in which Riley became more acquainted with the emotions.

They, of course, already knew absolutely everything about Riley (they were a part of her, after all), but she obviously hadn't known about them at all, ever, and it was a little freaky to get used to these things that could be aliens from outer space. But she ended up realizing that they were a rather pleasant lot to be around. They all _got_ each other and were soon able to talk very easily with each other, though Anger did try arguing about different things . . . a lot.

Like whether Candy Llamas were worse than Fudge Llamas.

"But Candy Llamas are really fun to slide down on!" Anger exclaimed to Fear.

"But they're also really scary!" Fear countered. "That drop in your stomach. . . ."

"Can you even feel the drop if you're all inside my head?" Riley wondered aloud, realizing just how strange this conversation was as she said it.

"Sort of . . . yes," Fear replied. "Yes, we can. And I don't like drops in our stomach."

"But those are so fun!" Joy said.

"Not as fun as going to Five Direction concerts," said Disgust.

"Nah, the waves are better," said Anger.

"THEY'RE CALLED LLAMAS!"

"Why are they called llamas?" asked Sadness.

"Because banana," Riley and Joy said at the same time. They grinned at each other.

Just then, a sort of smooth screeching sound came to all of their ears. They turned towards the ice-like train tracks that were materializing in front of them.

Joy and Riley both jumped up. Riley and Fear's hearts were pounding. The train looked similar to any ordinary train, except usually trains weren't quite as purple as this one—yet somehow, it made Riley feel rather adventurous and nervous at the same time, which she supposed was just going to have happened anyway.

"Riley's Mind Headquarters!" a strange, bean-like _thing_ that was sitting in the conductor's compartment announced in a bored voice.

"Come on, guys!" said Joy, hopping right onto the train. Everyone else followed suit.

Fear looked back at headquarters nervously as Joy went up to the conductor and said, "Um, hi! We're on our way to the happiest place in Riley's mind!"

Before the conductor could respond, Anger butted in, "Wait, are we looking for your puzzle piece first?"

"Um, yeah, why?"

Anger scowled. "Why not mine?"

"Uh . . . I dunno. We'll look for that later."

"Urrrgh," Anger growled, but he sighed and sat down on a bench.

The conductor raised an eyebrow. "Why are all of you wanting to go to the happiest place around? You can't leave headquarters."

"Yes, well, um . . . I dunno if you've noticed, but. . . ." Joy leaned down to whisper into the tired-looking Memory Worker's ear, " _Riley's in a coma_."

It took a second for the words to seem to penetrate the bean's brain. Then his eyes widened and he grabbed a walkie-talkie thing that was sitting in a nearby container and announced, "CODE THREE-NINE-FOUR! CODE THREE-NINE-FOUR! RED ALERT! RED ALERT! RILEY'S IN A COMA!"

Then chaos decided to ensue.

* * *

Meg was having a bad day.

First of all, her two friends aside from Riley weren't talking to her.

Only because she was now supposedly "weird" because her best friend was _in a coma_.

Well, they didn't say it out loud, but they weren't really hanging out with her.

Second of all . . . she had math that day.

Meg Harper did not like math in the slightest.

Third of all . . . Riley wasn't there. There was something very extreme about the hole that Meg had noticed was in her heart. It was her first day back since the coma. She kept looking around, trying to talk to Riley, before realizing that she wasn't there.

 _She wasn't there._

There was just something so unbearably empty inside Meg that she really couldn't stand it. It was just . . . just . . . just. . . .

 _Wham!_

"Ouch! Watch it, Voldy!"

"Vold—Meg?"

Meg looked up from her uncomfortable and rather awkward position on the floor, rubbing her head, to see Matt standing in front of her, now bending down to retrieve the books he'd been holding.

"Oh," Meg huffed. "It's you." She scowled, picking herself up, before trying to walk away again. But she stopped as Matt called, "Meg! Wait up!"

He caught up with her and started walking with her as she stomped down the hallway again.

"Meg, what's wrong? I mean . . . well . . . how are you?"

Evidently, Mr. Andersen had told Matt, who apparently Riley had told him about, about Riley's comatose state.

"I'm fine," she said stiffly, not looking at him. "Now go away before you get infected by my weirdom."

"How is this weird?"

"I dunno, ask the thousands of other people in this place who think having your best friend get in a coma be something simply _strange_ and _forgettable_."

She was fighting to keep tears from falling out of her eyes now.

"Meg?"

"Because it is NOT!"

Everyone in the hallway stared at her as she stopped walking.

"Meg . . . Jemma's friends lost someone too, you know. More permanently, too."

Meg looked up at Matt's soft tone of voice. "They're the ones who're calling me weird."

"I think because they envy you. At least you have a chance at getting your friend back. And, well . . . yeah." Matt scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

Meg stared at him for a moment. "Do you think I'm weird?"

"Me? Not at all. I'm in the same boat as you."

They stood in silence for a moment as the kids around them started going to their various classes.

"What class do you have next?" Meg asked him after several long moments.

"English. Why?"

"That's mine, too. Wanna go together?"

Matt gave a slight smile. "Why not?"

So they did.


End file.
